The Life that Never Lived ? (Order of the Phoenix)
by bookhater
Summary: Harry is still only slowly regaining his memories. The last book had only begun Voldemort's return, and Harry knew he needed to remember something about his fifth year, now more than ever... Complete, email me for a full copy
1. DUDLEY DEMENTED

**Important Author's Note!: Yes this series is complete in its entirety, but I have to email you if you want copies with book content, apologies. Please PM for details.**

Beautiful cover images for this series goes out to Bird-Who-Reads! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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The graveyard appeared in a haze around him, and the tombstones were the good features. The memory resurfacing in his mind's eye as he relived the moment again and again, Voldemort's ghastly white face, the threats and promises of his death, and always lingering in the background, Cedric-

"Harry, Harry love, wake up."

A gentle hand was brushing the bangs away from his face, only twitching slightly over the scar but continuing the methodic pattern. Squinting past the gray haze of sleep, he caught a glimpse of red, and for a moment was sure it was Ginny, but that faded absently from his mind without even fully registering why she'd be there.

Then he kept blinking, and instead of the wide brown eyes of Mrs. Weasley promising a hug whenever he did, or didn't, need one, his own green were staring down at him.

"Mum?"

For a moment Harry wasn't entirely sure if he was even awake...but his eyes were already closing again, her soft voice whispering reassurances, "it's alright dear, you're safe here."

Real or not, Harry felt himself relaxing under that touch, and soon faded back into a restless rem of a long dark corridor...

Lily was cooking breakfast with an absent minded look on her face. This would be their ninth day of learning Harry's life, and they were only at the half-way point, knowing full well they wouldn't even get through his fourth year in one day. She wasn't churning on the book they'd most recently finished though, if she lingered on that to long she was likely to start crying into the pot below her. No she was instead worrying over the fact that they had an Order meeting tonight, and the four of them would be unable to attend. Once she'd served breakfast and brought this to the attention of the others, Sirius brushed her off at once.

"Quit fretting Lil's, so we miss one meeting, they won't go flying off the handle for that."

"Besides, I think it's for the best," Remus grumbled towards his bowl without looking at anyone. "Doubt some of us could walk in there without executing a murder we couldn't fully explain." He took an extra hard bite at his spoon at the end, nearly ripping the metal off.

James hand twitched on the way to his mouth, spilling porridge over his nose instead, and only after he'd carefully wiped it up did he say, "it's not like we can do anything about it. If someone comes around here asking questions, we'll do the same as we did before and pretend like nothing's wrong. It's none of their business if we're being extra cautious of late and didn't attend this one meeting."

Lily was stirring her food absently in the bowl, she hadn't touched a bite. She was too busy straining over the fact that they could honestly use the Order's help with this. They should know that there was a traitor among them before any more secrets were spilled, and she couldn't help the deep longing she had just to see them all. So many were going to die in the coming year.

Harry watched them all with a deep ache, again feeling personally responsible he was putting them in such a hard spot all because of his presence. No one was eating much anymore, and when Harry went to put his finished bowl away and began collecting the others no one protested.

Despite the fact that they all knew full well this stupid book was as likely as the last ones going to start with the Dursleys, Remus kept the baby almost hopefully in his lap. He felt safer with his little cub in his arms while hearing about them than having to picture this very infant around those people. Harry in particular couldn't help but smile when he saw this. Aside from his own parents, there was just something adorable about Remus holding a baby he couldn't put into words.

It was a somber group that flopped down into their spots in the living room and Sirius who started without much enthusiasm.

Sirius had never believed he could say a street name with as much hatred as he curled that out with.

"Hu?" James asked in confusion. He'd admit he was also trying to delay a bit until he had to hear about the inside of one particular house.

"Hosepipes are used to pump water out," Lily grumbled more than explained, at this point she'd pay Sirius just to skip these parts until Harry could escape to the Burrow, but she also knew that wouldn't do any good. In some perverse way she wanted to know every terrible thing Petunia and Vernon had done to her son, that way she could kill them with a much more clear conscious knowing everything. "Sometimes in very hot summers, the city puts restrictions up so the residents have limited use."

James couldn't even imagine the idea, but then again, he'd never thought to question where the water came when he used a spell.

"Please tell me they don't have you out there pruning in that weather," Remus forced out between gritted teeth.

"Nope," Harry murmured. His memories of the summer were still murky, the last clear thing he remembered was getting off the train into Vernon's car, but he already had a bad feeling about how this summer had gone. Not that any of his summers at that place were ever really considered pleasant, so maybe he was just getting this one confused with a previous one? He hoped so, because the bad feelings bubbling up in him now weren't proving a good omen.

"That comes from too little nourishment," Lily sneered, thinking back to the new levels of starving they'd been putting her boy through that past summer.

"Well I think how you treat him is punishable by law!" James snapped, "and I can't bleeding wait to act on it."

Harry got the sense he wasn't going to be reporting the Dursleys to anyone, but his father would be facing his own law somewhere in there, causing Harry to inch away from him just a bit in fear. He really wasn't looking forward to what would happen to his muggle relatives when they got out of here.

"Why were you hiding yourself?" Sirius asked, infusing some mischief into his voice Harry quickly shot away with an exasperated look. He had no more clue than them, yet. Besides that, Harry had always strived to keep himself out of trouble at the Dursleys, though hardly ever exceeding that wasn't the point.

"Well congratulations then," James nodded somberly. He really couldn't find any of his normal enthusiasm while having to hear about Harry there. He was half waiting any moment for Voldemort to pop up all over again and start trying to curse his son where he lay, though hopefully he'd at least hit Vernon first.

Now Harry could feel the soft melding beginning on the edges of his mind as a memory was being returned, and he was more confident than ever his first impulse had been right, he'd found a new level of hate for his summer holidays. He was utterly confident it had something to do with watching the news, or perhaps a lack of news-

"I know you're not going to answer," Remus sighed as he watched baby Harry begin gumming on the sleeve of his robes, "but I really am curious why you're trying to spend time with them like that."

"Enjoying their company is not my reason for being in there," Harry at once said with conviction, "but I'm getting a bad feeling of why I am there."

"I get a bad feeling any time you're there," Lily sniffed, though everyone felt themselves tensing up even more at Harry's proclamation. What a way for this book to start, in such an already tense and uneasy atmosphere.

Harry could feel the soft pressure it caused for his memories to be returned, his listening in on this conversation had finally given him a timeline of where in the summer he was, and the heavy sigh he released relieved no one of their worries. It managed to increase the look of agitation on Harry's face as he realized he'd been left to stew in nothing for a solid month with no useful contact from anyone. He threw Sirius in particular a disgruntled look for his letters he remembered from his godfather, then he sat there and really looked at him for a moment with some monster of a feeling telling him he should be valuing any letter Sirius sent him...

The others had noticed Harry, but they figured if he wasn't sharing it was best not to ask as that had only caused him pain in the past.

"He says that like it's a good thing," Remus cocked his head to the side in, well more disbelief than usual for Vernon's mental health.

"It does explain a bit about them though," Sirius curled his lip in disgust. "They enjoy their son being as daft as a stick like they are, they hate Harry for not conforming to that."

Sirius rolled his eyes in disbelief at such a statement, he'd been on there only two years ago, and now Vernon even knew who he was. It wasn't actually possible for someone to be that dense was it?

"As if he doesn't know better," James snorted in disgust, thinking back to that first book which seemed like a kindness now, and all of their odd mentionings he'd tried to make a comment to Petunia about. He supposed Vernon had simply blocked that from his mind though, puny as it was, he needed the space for all his insults.

"These people have far to much concern with being spied on," Lily scoffed in disgust, but she already knew how self important they found themselves.

"Petunia does enough of it," Remus forced something resembling a smile, "I'm sure she's just expecting retribution."

Harry's eyes narrowed in on this, he'd been far too shy when this had first been brought up, and far too out of it when Dumbledore had mentioned it in the last book, but now taking any excuse to not speak of the Dursley's for a moment Harry confirmed, "you said there was a Figg in the Order?"

"Yes," Remus confirmed, "but I'm still not convinced it's not the same one we know. Surely if she's been looking after you all these years, she'd have told Dumbledore about your err, living arrangements in your younger years." His face was murderous by the end at having to phrase a child living in a cupboard in that light, but if he'd actually said the words they'd come out more as a growl.

"I never told her that though," Harry shrugged, "never told anyone."

Lily narrowed her eyes on her son for that, but she blamed the Dursleys more than Harry for that. More than likely he'd been warned with a harsher punishment than no meals, she shuddered slightly at even the thought of that man putting his hands on her son and quickly cut off her train of thought while answering, "yes, well there's still the other things. Those ratty clothes and your very clear malnourishment plus never taking you anywhere while they spoiled Dudley rotten. Surely she'd at least mention that to Dumbledore who would have investigated further."

Harry wasn't as sure, the Dursley's had often spread around he was a sickly kid to excuse his looks and how they couldn't find any clothes to fit him properly, and there really was something nagging at his mind of Mrs. Figg and Dumbledore...but he let the matter go nonetheless.

Lily gave a soft little sigh of pity for the poor old thing, she probably got lonely especially since Harry hadn't stayed around anymore.

Remus spluttered in shock as he looked at Sirius like he'd spoken Norwegian.

Sirius looked just as disbelieving as he rolled his eyes at what he'd said. "I'll believe Dudley's out having tea with friends when Harry dates Malfoy."

Harry retched at the idea theatrically while laughing along with the others, privately thinking to himself all that he'd already caught Dudley doing that summer when he was supposedly 'out.' His parents really were blind.

James scoffed in disgust, he had more reasons than he'd ever dream of hating these stupid in laws of his, but their continued ignorance still chafed him for just how purposefully stupid they were being.

"Yet I'm not even surprised," Remus rolled his eyes.

They were all muttering in frustration at this little delinquent, but honestly it was just a nice change of pace to hear he wasn't tormenting Harry as much as he'd seemed to before they weren't putting too much effort into it.

Sirius finished that a bit sadly, his mind flickering back to his having done the same in Hogsmeade and not appreciating the similarities to him and his godson in these lights. Harry was probably getting just as much food as a few rats at that place as well.

"Why were you scavenging for newspapers?" James asked with a wince, trying to deny he'd been picturing the same thing as Sirius.

Harry chewed on that for a moment, debating whether to tell them and get it over with or let the book tell as it most likely would, but it didn't take much to decide on the first as he explained the lackluster mail he'd been getting from his friends.

There was a moment of shocked silence before Remus shook his head sadly at Harry and said, "I think you're putting a little too much stock into your friends with that. What exactly do you think they're not telling you, Voldemort walking up the street? No, he's in hiding, they can't offer up anymore."

It was clear as day the anger in Harry's tone as he'd explained it, but this explanation didn't simmer him any. "I don't understand why they had to be so cryptic about it though, it made it sound like they knew something I didn't." This usually happened every time he was at the Dursley's, as old feelings never failed to pop up of his years of isolation there and it somehow felt so much worse that summer.

"Is that really safe?" Lily tried to change the subject into something she found far more important. "The only reason you're at that bleeding place is because you're somehow protected at that house, is wandering the streets a good idea?"

"I couldn't be locked up in that house all the time," Harry scowled, "I'd go mad and beg Ron to come get me again. It's Dumbledore's fault for not explaining that to me." He felt a little bad for his petulant tone when he watched everyone around him flinch, clearly they were all fearing some coming attack by Death Eaters now. Harry wasn't afraid of that, if it hadn't happened by now he didn't see why Voldemort's return would suddenly cause it. That wasn't entirely accurate though...had Death Eaters ever shown up in Private Drive? He was getting some interesting feelings trying to flip across his mind. He was in some kind of danger this summer, and he would be getting guests at his house...but then Sirius had kept going and he stopped thinking about it.

"What are you hoping to find anyways?" James asked.

"Strange deaths, disappearances, anything indicating what Voldemort's doing," Harry said like he thought that was obvious.

"While I get what you're going for," Sirius shook his head at him, "I think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself. If that's the kind of stuff you were hoping Ron and Hermione would send you, then it's no wonder your disapointed. Voldemort tries his hardest to keep himself in the shadows as often as possible, it's certainly scarier that way."

"Didn't you notice the pattern last year," James agreed. "Of the people we know he killed, they were all fairly insignificant and wouldn't have taken much notice. The only reason Bertha did was because most likely Crouch and he had his own reasons to find her and his own secrets to protect, she was sloppy." No one could miss how haggard his face looked in the end as they all remembered who's sloppy kill that was.

"But someone must have some idea of what he is doing," Harry insisted, already realizing he was going to feel bad for the way he'd been thinking of his friends this summer once he'd had this explained.

"Well yes," Remus agreed, "but that's not something you'd put in a letter." Privately he also agreed he wasn't entirely sure if anyone in the Order would tell Harry even if they could. Sirius was the most likely, and they weren't even sure where he was right now. Remus seemed to have just fallen off the face of the earth and wouldn't be telling anyone anything, and clearly Dumbledore was trying to keep Harry out of the loop by having him at the Dursleys for as long as he was.

Harry grumbled a bit more but sighed in agreement.

Lily was fighting back the urge of a few nasty insults she'd like to throw Vernon's way, she wanted Harry to leave this news venture just so she wouldn't have to hear his commentary on every little thing.

"While true," Remus agreed, "I'm not sure I understand your disappointment with that."

"Better to know what's going on than this constant wondering and worrying," Harry grumbled.

They wanted to argue the point, but what could they say. They couldn't tell Harry to at least try to enjoy his summer while he could, not where he was. He had nothing to take his mind off these things, and they could already feel the frustration rolling off of him in waves.

Lily sighed as she wrapped a tight arm around Harry, remembering back to his early days of discovering the wizarding world and how he'd spent his summer days longing to go back to school. She'd rather hear about that than his desire to go chasing after Voldemort.

"As if he's not doing the exact same thing," Remus scoffed.

"Actually he wasn't," Harry shrugged, "he treated us all to a lengthy dinner speech about the importance of upholding such laws and he found it befouling anyone would do otherwise."

"Yet another reason I intend on murdering him," James sneered, "torturing you with his arrogant attitude like that."

"Still as pompous an arse as ever then," Sirius rolled his eyes, though honestly he wouldn't be surprised if the man was still a hypocrite and did it without Harry's even noticing.

"That counts as a little strange," Lily offered just to see her son stop looking like that for a moment, though she really didn't think it had anything to do with Voldemort.

"It was because they were training a new pilot though," Harry sighed, "I definitely found that believable enough."

"So she is a hypocrite," Lily sniffed, though she was well aware by this point.

"That's actually quite talented," Sirius snickered a bit at training a bird to do that.

"Muggle's have the strangest news," James had his head cocked to the side as he heard all of this.

Sirius had never really gotten to a carefree mode of reading, Harry being around these people just made him too uneasy, but now he was reading as tense and upset as if Harry had been around that troll all over again. Anything that sounded like a gunshot couldn't be a good thing.

Even if James hadn't remembered what a gunshot was he would have instantly been as tense and upset as the others just from the way they all tensed.

Harry was too busy feeling the echo of adrenaline trying to jump him even if he didn't feel it now to wonder on why he should be thinking of that.

Remus was far too concerned with the vision of Death Eater's really attacking Harry there to congratulate him on those reflexes.

Harry hissed and went cross eyed in pain as he rubbed the top of his head, but that still didn't drop the determined look on his face nor how his hand stayed tight around his wand. If he looked like this now with just a delayed after effect while trying not to do anything about it, they could all easily imagine how fierce he looked on the actual situation. It didn't do much to make any of them feel better as they all remembered just how alone he was there.

For a moment Sirius was convinced someone was squeezing their hands around his throat, his vision blurred out as he saw red then black from what he'd just forced out in shock. There was just no way possible that monster was actually squeezing his godson's throat!

Then a monstrous noise registered, and Sirius wasn't allowed to act on whatever his impulse had been leading him to break because he was flying into action.

"Let me GO!" James continued to thrash no matter how tight the hold on him was. "I don't care if I get knocked out, I'll kill him before I do!"

Remus nearly fell back down the stairs, he'd bolted up there and put the baby down in his crib the moment he realized what all was happening and only just came back in time to try and stop his friend as well. "Think about what your saying Prongs," Remus begged, trying to stay in his face while avoiding the thrashing limbs. "You won't get a foot when Harry's going to have to drag your arse back here, and what if it's worse this time-"

"I don't care!" James howled, his elbow now slamming repeatedly into Sirius' ribs as he kept trying to make his way to that bleeding door.

Harry watched with horror at this reaction, which finally wore off when his fingers started grasping at the handle, so he darted forward to try and say his part, "Dad, please, it-"

"AND YOU!" James snarled, his face the deepest shade of red as his wild eyes flashed between the door and his son now. "You lied to me! You said they never put hands on you!"

"I said they never left a bruise," Harry quickly corrected.

He blinked as all three of them froze in what they were doing and just stared at him, Sirius arms even went slack and James clearly didn't notice.

James stood there, vibrating in place as he snarled, "lying by omission is still a lie Harry! The bloody hell, how many times had he done this!?"

Harry was frowning in concern, rocking on his feet as he watched him with unease, but when he failed to answer James made a guttural, maddening sound as he stormed away, at least in the opposite direction up the stairs. He shoved a vase off a stand on the way, though as Lily noted when she darted after him it had been a gift from Petunia so it seemed fitting.

The last thing the three at the bottom of the stairs herd was a few more objects breaking and Lily crying, "no, James, not that one!"

Harry's face was stark white in shock as he whispered, "he's really mad at me."

Remus and Sirius exchanged a broken look. Neither of them were feeling much calmer than their friend, but the terror now written on Harry was doing a pretty good job of reminding them they shouldn't try and mimic his actions.

"Not you," Remus sighed,

"-by much," Sirius muttered.

"but Harry, what were you thinking?" Remus quickly moved past that sense it only made Harry look even more upset.

"I just," he threw his hands up in the air in frustration, his mind scrambling as he tried to come up with a way to make them see. "You guys have to understand I never told anyone about this, anyone. Not Ron, it just-" he sighed and flattened his hair onto his head for a moment, starting to pace and still throwing panicked eyes at the stairs where now no noise at all could be heard.

Sirius sucked in a deep breath, watching Harry pad back and forth for several more beats before saying, "I get that. It took me ages to tell James what my mum did to me."

Harry paused then, watching Sirius with dark weary eyes. Sirius leaned back against the stairs banister, trying for all the world to look casual as he said, "I grew up a nosy little child, always asking one to many questions, and my mum hated that. She always said I was never a proper Black, and she tended to curse me for it, a lot. Her favorite was to use the Transmogrifian Torture, it popped a limb out of socket and she'd leave it like that until I properly apologized and said I'd do better and stuff. That never left a bruise either," he finished with a mutter, rubbing absently at his shoulder.

He looked over to see Harry had a new kind of horrified look on his face, and Sirius nodded solemnly as he kept going, "things didn't get any better for me once I started school. My first morning there when she'd found out I was in Gryffindor, she sent me a howler so bad it made what Neville's Gran and Ron's mum sent look like a love letters. I ran out of there trying my damndest not to cry, and James caught up to me and demanded to know what that was about. I didn't tell him, not really, just kind of fudged around it and we ended up missing our first Transfiguration class, though for some reason McGonagall didn't say anything to me," he added with a rueful smile. "Then Remus let us borrow his notes so that we could do our homework, so it was never even brought up. He wasn't even technically our friend yet."

"I think I just somehow knew I'd better get used to it," Remus said with a roll of his eyes, taking a seat on the steps anyways and propping his head in his hands like he was trying to pretend this was all casual stuff.

Sirius gave him a nudge with his foot before rounding up, "I didn't go home for that Christmas or Easter holiday, but my summer there wasn't pretty. She basically disowned me, swearing up and down I could never make up for this terrible mistake I made." He gave a tragic look to the ceiling, then smirked at Harry before finishing, "a memory I look back on quite fondly now."

They watched Harry for another second, and this time he did open his mouth before quickly closing it, clearly still dithering, so Remus instead said, "my parents are afraid of me."

Sirius had to bite back the instant feeling he had of correcting Remus, he'd only met his parents twice and he'd never gotten that impression, but Remus seemed to feel anyone who wasn't an Animagus was afraid of him no matter what they said. It was one of the reasons he avoided his own dad now.

"What?" He squawked in surprise, looking Remus in the eye to make sure that wasn't some cruel joke.

He just shrugged however, though his fingers fidgeting with the hem of his robes showed his careless tone wasn't really all there as he explained, "well, they certainly never look me in the eye. They asked me if I could even try to stay at Hogwarts over summer break because they realized the school was much better equipped to handle me. During my full moons, they'd shut me up in a room, sort of like they had to do here, and then leave the house for twenty four hours, just to make sure they weren't around for any part of the cycle."

Harry's mouth was actually hanging open in shock now, which only made Remus give a not at all amused smile. "Oh they took care of me after the fact, bandaged me up and all that. I never knew if it was shame, or fear, or something else, but I do know I stopped going around my parents place not long after I left school, and they've never asked me over since. Last time I saw them was when my Mum passed away and I honestly thought when I was asked up to the hospital it was a joke."

Harry seemed to realize he was staring then, and quickly closed his mouth, but at least this time he didn't turn away from them and instead ran his hand through his hair some more as he said haplessly, "I, don't know what you want me to say. He throttled me sometimes, but only when I was much younger, when my magic was really obvious. He only did it till I went slack, and I learned to do that pretty fast, then he'd lock me in my cupboard until he'd decided I'd learned my lesson. It never did leave a bruise," he emphasized, now rubbing absently at his throat in remembrance.

"How come you never went to the police, told someone," Remus asked gently.

Harry rolled his eyes at what he felt was an absurd question. "Even if I'd had the gall to, which I didn't as Vernon terrified me through most of my younger years, I had no proof, which he'd occasionally point out whenever someone looked at me on the street to long. You think I didn't notice that Dudley and I were clearly so different from each other. But Vernon always said that if I ever said a word about how they'd dealt with any of my weirdness, I couldn't prove it. They'd say that Dudley's second bedroom was mine, and they really only did take food away from me whenever my magic was acting up, never so much I was malnourished."

He paused then, a calculating look on his face as he added, "I don't really think Petunia or Dudley knew, or if they did they didn't care. Petunia was certainly all for the food part though, so I may not put it past them."

Harry looked back to see that a nerve was thumping in both of their jaws, and he was quick to tack on, "he really did stop after I turned eleven though. He was definitely to afraid of my magic, and it really wasn't that frequent."

"And your twelfth birthday," Sirius managed to get out in a steel tone.

Harry flattened his hair with nerves, but at this point recognized there was no reason not to tell them. "Okay, yeah, he did it then until I did pass out. Woke up in the bathroom and they wouldn't let me out until Vernon had put those bars on my window. They've got their own bathroom in their bedroom, so it hardly put them out."

He crossed his arms defensively when they just kept staring at him. "What? What I just said isn't nearly as bad as what you two had."

While they weren't exactly going to argue with him over such a topic it hardly made what he did say feel better.

Up the stairs in their room, Lily watched James collapse on the bed. He'd taken his glasses off first, so that he could press his hands so hard into his face, his palms digging into his eyes, he looked like he was trying to gouge them out.

"James," she whispered, sinking down beside him, but completely at a loss for words.

"I can't stop seeing it," he got out through a restricted throat. "The cupboard, Pettigrew, Harry watching Cedric get murdered right in front of him, now this. I'm fighting this war to try and save my only child, and at this rate my dying feels about as useful as my life."

"Don't-" she begged at once, her hands latching onto his, trying to pull them away, but he still managed to keep going, "I couldn't even save you. You're the one who saved Harry, I just got tossed aside like the useless thing I am-"

"James, please, you can't be thinking like that." She cut him off, nearly begging to try and get him to stop. She had to tug hard for a moment, but finally his hands slid away to reveal bloodshot eyes. She stayed leaning over him, hazel matching green as she whispered, "don't you think I'm feeling the same way. She was my sister James, and she's doing this to my baby, but don't you start talking like that now. We will find a way to fix this, make it so that Harry never has to be without us again."

James gave a derisive snort, his eyes still vacant as he whispered, "some dad I'd turned out to be anyways, Harry's been lying his arse off since he got here, and did you see that look on his face. Now I've scared him senseless, I'll be lucky if he dosen't look at me the way he does Vernon now. Should probably just hand him over to Sirius already and be done with it for all the-"

Lily popped him on the forehead, and when he only winced but kept at his insane mutterings, she smacked him, hard.

"James, listen to yourself," she pleaded. "If Harry doesn't understand why you were so upset then that's because he's never had his father around to be upset on his behalf, but he could never put you and Vernon in the same scope of his life. You're too good a person, and he knows that."

His face twitched, like he wanted to believe her but couldn't quite grasp the emotion yet, so she kept going. "And if you actually think Harry would replace Sirius with you if he had the chance, then you really need a reality check. They both love you, and they need you. It's a damn cruel world where Harry's from that you're not in the picture, but both of them would do anything to change that."

He closed his eyes then, his jaw still shaking, a few tears managing to escape, but at least for a moment Lily had seen the flash in him like he believed that.

There was silence for a long time between them, Lily not moving a muscle and James trying to get his under control, until finally he took a careful breath in through his nose and releasing it through his mouth before whispering, "I love you."

"I love you to," she said back at once.

He opened his eyes then, watching her for several more beats before moving like he was going to sit up. Lily sat back and let him, but she was at once buried into his chest as he wrapped his arms as tight around her as he could. "What did I do to deserve you?" He muttered into her hair.

"If I figure it out, I'll let you know," she returned, snuggling him for as long as they both needed, before he took another deep breath and whispered,

"Guess I should go back down and face them."

"They're all worried sick about you," Lily said at once. "You looked likely to jump through a window when you came pelting up here."

He made an odd noise, one Lily couldn't decide if it was in agreement or protest, but then he took to his feet, put his glasses back on, and started for the door, her hand still tightly in his, their rings pressed together.

As they came back down they saw Remus had to hop out of the way, and quickly took in the other two. Sirius who was an ugly gray but trying to pretend he was acting normal, and Harry's arms crossed and still looking defensive. It did not improve his mood that when Harry saw him, his foot looked like he wanted to take an automatic step back, but he met his eyes and at once whispered, "I'm sorry."

James opened his mouth, couldn't think of anything to say, closed it, and walked past him back to the living room. Lily met her son's eyes as well, but didn't release her hold on James and instead hissed something at him as James made for the recliner. He didn't respond, instead sinking down into that and pulling his wife with him. She perched on his lap, giving him a look that said plainly she did not approve of his actions, but when he wrapped his arms around her waist again and didn't look up to moving, she just rolled her eyes and looked back towards them expectantly.

"He's mad at me," Harry murmured for Sirius and Remus' ears alone.

"Only for the next hour or so," Sirius waved it off. "I pissed him off real good when I denied what my mother had been doing to me for most of my childhood. These two asked me a lot of the same questions they'd been asking you when I came back from holiday, and I gave a lot of the same answers. Didn't admit to it all till I ran away, and even while he was helping me unpack he was ribbing me."

"If there's one thing you want to do to piss Prongs off, it is lie to him," Remus nodded in agreement. "When he found out how long I'd gone without telling him about my being a werewolf, he was really ticked, so much so he went and did something illegal," he finished with an amused smile, causing Sirius at least to laugh.

Harry did not join in, still watching his dad with clear guilt on his face, but followed the other two as they went back into the room as well. He stood in the doorway, and finally he couldn't take it anymore. He'd never in his life imagined his father so angry with him, and the rejection trying to well up inside him and cast a new shade of light on every good memory he'd collected so far had the words bursting out of him before he'd considered them. "I'm sorry, alright. I'll tell you, I promise-" he tried to think of some way to begin, but the words failed him, so honestly stalling for time he finished in a whisper, "after this chapter's over."

James only hesitated a beat, nodded to indicate he'd heard, but still didn't unbury himself from Lily's back.

Harry quickly shuffled to the farthest sofa away, trying to curl himself into the cushions and looking anywhere but at his parents.

James had his face pressed into Lily's spine, doing a terrible job of pretending he wasn't paying attention to any of them, while Lily was giving him the stank eye over her shoulder but clearly wasn't moving until she saw something else.

Remus and Sirius exchanged uneasy looks, but finally Remus sat down next to Harry and Sirius went back to fetch the book. The last thing he actually wanted to do was go back and see how long Vernon had his hands on Harry before his little pup passed out, for all he knew he'd barely get a few more words in before he incited rage all over again from himself and James. Normally this would be the time Harry would step in, read for them as a reminder he was fine, but for now he was pretending to be invisible.

It also occured to all three of them that they'd had this conversation when James and Lily hadn't even been here, so they'd never even gotten their sons full confession. Remus and Sirius locked eyes, knowing now probably wasn't the time, but hopefully by the end of this chapter everyone would be at least a bit calmer and they'd convince Harry to tell Lily and James what he'd told them. Sirius fidgeted with the page for a long time, before finally the silence dragged on and he felt he had no other choice but to keep going.*

Sirius' fingers were so tight around the book they were beginning to hurt, but he couldn't release his hold one little bit, he was too busy picturing them being around Vernon's neck.

Remus wasn't even distracted by the coppery taste of blood in his mouth from biting his tongue to stop himself uttering a string of constant curses, his own throat vibrating violently already showing how he felt about having to imagine that being done to Harry. The very worst part was, this still wasn't the worst thing happening. There could still be danger around Harry, and Vernon was merely causing a fatal distraction.

Lily's face was ghastly white as that image kept floating just behind her mind's eye, blocking out her once peaceful living room and adult son trying to burrow himself out of sight behind Sirius and into the couch. How many times had this happened in his youth? Often enough it was clear this was a common reaction of Vernon's to begin throttling Harry, even in plain view of the street like that. Had his accidental magic ever kicked in before? Or had he never held on so long this happened? She hardly wanted answers to any of these questions, she was still likely to vomit and start skinning that walrus already with her own.

This only reinforced what Lily had just been thinking though, and now she couldn't shake the thought! How on earth was that excuse, that was such a blatant sign of abuse and surely someone had just seen it as the neighbors were looking around. Did everyone in that neighborhood care so little about Harry's well being because of the Dursley's lies no one was going to do anything about this!

Harry glanced half hopefully at Remus or Sirius, like he was hoping one of them would make a joke at his expense, but neither of them did, they were still too pail from anger to take the bait. Both were thinking of themselves in the future, what they wished they'd already done to Vernon but each having never done so and neither finding it excusable.

James still had his face buried in his wife's hair, though the fiery color was doing little to improve his mood it still held the only comfort he could find at the moment, and was far to distracted to ask what on earth that could mean in any relation to the noise Harry reacted to. He was just more disgusted Vernon was playing off his own moment.

"I've never seen him grin like anything else though," Harry grumbled softly, as the silence apart from the violent reading was starting to freak him out. He'd grown far to used to the constant flow of commentary, and had learned that long lapses in silence like this were usually at the worst of times. He didn't agree this leveld up with other moments.

Harry flinched in shock at the eruption of growls in the room, but at least this time he understood why. He hadn't wanted to be back in arm's reach of Vernon then either.

It was highly unlikely before this moment that the Dursleys were going to live much longer when they were released from this place, but now whatever wavering may have persisted at Harry's words wouldn't even hold. It was utterly astounding he'd ever done so when he clearly had memories of this happening to him in his younger years!

"I hope he had the bleeding piss scared out of him," Remus hissed, choosing to focus on the disappointment this moment didn't cause Vernon heart failure rather than the still lingering fear of what was going on to start this.

Despite James' hands still wrapped tight around her waist, Lily was still fighting the urge to go over to her son right now and have him in her arms to make absolutely certain there wasn't anything wrong with him because of this instance. To run her hands gently over his neck, to be where he was and be just as certain no one was going to harm her son while he was surrounded by all those Muggles.

Sirius had to work furiously with himself not to give some waspish reply, that was far to similar to how his mother had treated him in the house he'd grown up in. Treating every room that wasn't his as if Sirius were trespassing in it.

James felt his lip curling up in disgust, did that man have a single brain cell of his own?

Harry almost laughed as he remembered those looks as compared to the ones his family still had in place. Vernon and Petunia had nothing on outrage when it came to them.

That did it. Harry's unexpected comment cracked Remus and he snorted in surprise but just as quickly tried to stifle his giggling. It wasn't hard, he could still feel bloodlust wanting him to curse something into oblivion, but at least Harry met his eyes and grinned back which made it worth it.

Lily rolled her eyes and tisked in disgust. She didn't care it was nearly fourteen years later for the man, he knew perfectly well her lot did in fact end up on the news from time to time, it had been what had drawn the man to question Petunia about Lily's whereabouts all those years ago. Either he'd blocked the memory or he'd forgotten, either way she no longer needed an excuse to find anything he said or did the lowest form of stupid.

"Because Merlin forbid he just get letters from his friends," Sirius muttered tersely. His knuckles still white around the books edge and the fearsome tone of his voice hadn't dropped one bit and Harry was starting to grow worried that none of them seemed to be breathing normally for a while now.

"Why do you bother!?" James couldn't stop his snap of outrage, but either Harry was expecting it this time or he just rolled with it Harry didn't flinch this time before answering calmly, "I rarely see a point in lying if I can help it." He did finish on a wince though as all of them gave him looks of disbelief for that, considering his lie by omission was a part of the reason everyone in here looked more than angry. He sighed and muttered something, but was sick of lingering on this topic so shot at Sirius, "do you want me to read through this part?"

"No," Sirius snapped right back, turning his boggling eyes away from Harry for now and effectively hiding a tint of hurt now. He couldn't help it though, he seemed to go out of his way to tell those Dursleys the truth as often as he could, but wouldn't for them? In his time or now?

"Don't see the point of telling them the truth when clearly they think he's lying about everything anyways," Lily was still hissing under her breath so low only James could hear, and he was in full agreement.

"Like what exactly?" Remus rolled his eyes in contempt.

"Don't know, never asked for details," Harry said with a happy enough smile, at least someone was trying to push back into playing this off even if every part of Remus clearly didn't feel it. Harry was honestly wishing Remus hadn't put the baby away now, even that little baby would have helped them feel better.

There were several colorful comments each of them could have made to that, but considering Vernon would have long since died before this conversation had taken place if any of them had had their way besides Harry, Sirius didn't bother listening to the variety and instead kept up his lackluster reading in hopes this chapter would just end. Anger and worry were still at war with each other over Harry's predicament, and he wanted some kind of proof his little pup wasn't about to be attacked right there on the street and that Vernon was going to have his hands removed soon, not necessarily in that order.

Remus couldn't help it that time, he did manage a soft laugh under his breath for Harry's wit, but he was still the only one.

Harry couldn't help rolling his eyes at what he was now considering an overreaction from everyone else. He was fine, and if they really wanted another apology he'd give it just to stop all of this ugly silence and silent death threats he could still feel pulsing through the room.

Lily blinked spastically for a moment as fear finally trumped anger. Harry was only at that place because apparently it was safe from dark attacks, but now he'd up and left with the noise of an apparition still going unexplained. Exactly how far was that protection magic around number four? Just the house, the street? Yet for even a second to turn around and say she wanted Harry to stay at that house for a moment longer would always feel wrong, it really spoke volumes she'd prefer Harry's chances with a dark wizard rather than her sister and husband in law.

Remus was dying to ask Harry what he defined as 'trouble' with those people. Another round of strangling? Harry'd made it clear it wasn't that common, but now he truly was in the dark of how much Harry could be leaving out there. Sirius was still reading every word as a death sentence and very clearly wanting to finish this, and since Remus was well aware Harry wasn't getting out of this conversation again at the end of the chapter he didn't bring it up for now.

Sirius couldn't take the suspense anymore and did ask, "pay what price exactly?"

Harry wanted to sigh and roll his eyes, try and play this all off or just ignore it like he had in the past, but at this point he was sure that wouldn't help any. He didn't see how telling them the entire truth would make it much better, but he wasn't sure it could get any worse either. "Threats mostly, he knew he couldn't do anything to me, even if he knew I wasn't supposed to be doing magic he was still afraid I would after Marge. Locking me in the shed mostly, he even kept the padlock all nice and polished," he finished with a forced laugh like looking back made it funny rather than as menacing as he'd honestly found it, but he'd instead been right the first time, several disturbing noises promising more violence and more death glares at the door showed his honesty had won him nothing.

Harry was still very distracted by the tension that had practically taken up a seat in this room, and he had no want to think about the tingling feeling saying he could have a gut answer to that question.

No one else had really forgotten what had started the instance either, and honestly fear was starting to trump outrage. None of them could wait to start wringing Vernon's neck themselves, they'd probably have to find an object to do so considering their hands wouldn't wrap around but that wasn't the point. Now though, now that Harry was away from him, the reason he'd left was hovering in the forefront just waiting to pounce on their aching hearts. Most likely it was a Death Eater coming for Harry, and he'd now left the only protection he'd had.

Harry may not have understood why as he wasn't fering the same thing, but he was relieved when Sirius finally started reading in less blood thirsty tones and hoped he'd finally switch back to at least semi normal.

Lily could tell she was the only one who was desperately hoping for that to be the answer. The other boys were all still too upset to even consider any kind of good option other than an attack waiting, but Lily was honestly hoping now it was Dobby with some cryptic new message. She'd take that over a fight for his life as strung out as she was right now.

Harry was looking on at nothing in a funny sort of way, his face twisted as he was so sure he was moments away from realizing something, about being followed by invisible-

"Not invisible," Remus agreed uneasily, "but you do know he can hide at least in a bush." His thoughts were hovering the same as the other boys, that a wizard could be hidden even more easily. Though it did beg the question, if Harry was under attack, why the hiding at all? Were they waiting until he was far enough away from Private Drive to attack? It was hard to see another motive when they were all still on the edge of their seat and white faced from anger.

Lily tried to force herself to see some good news in this, that this wasn't Harry's first foray out of that house that summer and he hadn't been attacked yet. Her hand tightened around James' though as her mind just kept offering up more terrible solutions, that he was just being watched, and someone was waiting.

Harry fidgeted with unease as he was just as sure of this fact now, but he felt no impending threat from this like he was now aware those around him did. Yet that didn't stop a trickle of sweat breaking over the back of his neck as he couldn't find it in himself to comfort them either, to promise nothing bad was going to happen this night. In fact he was now fighting back the impulse to take the book away from Sirius again for a wholly other reason, something bad was going to happen to him tonight and he didn't think his godfather in particular was going to enjoy it.

Remus shook his head in disbelief at Harry as he asked, "did it really not occur to you this could be an attack?"

"Not really," he sighed. "Dumbledore said the only reason I was going there was because it was supposed to be safe."

They wished they had that kind of faith in Dumbledore, but seeing as they'd never once seen that house as any kind of safe none of them agreed.

"Glory Harry, now I know you've been spending too much time with those muggles," Sirius sighed. "Trying to write off our instances as normal things."

Harry finally felt a real smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as Sirius tried for a joke again, somehow it felt better to watch them worry about something they knew he lived through like some impending attack then fear for his health at the Dursleys.

Lily felt James twitch behind her, the compulsion to go comfort his son when he heard of that feeling rearing it's head and pushing away his own feelings. He sighed deeply, but finally unburied himself from her hair and glanced around at Harry now to see a far away, contemplative look on his face as he rubbed absently at his head while Sirius read, but thankfully there weren't any traces of hopelessness in him now.

Remus shook his head at Harry's naivety, he was looking for odd instances occurring in the Muggle news but only scanning front headlines of theirs? He was most likely going off his experience last year of the two headlines featuring Barty Crouch and Bertha Jorkins, but those weren't always front cover stories. Sometimes it took a few page flips to find anything remotely interesting other than politics and Quidditch scores. He wasn't going to bring this up to Harry now though, no since in riling him up when soon enough they were going to be hearing more about odd happenings in the book than they already were from their own Daily Prophet from this timeline.

"News like what?" Sirius couldn't stop himself from asking. "Merlin Harry don't you ever just send fun letters to your friends detailing all the times you've tried to kill your cousin."

Harry just rolled his eyes as he found the question obvious and considered the rest all joking, but he was wrong. Sirius wasn't the only one wondering if Harry would ever get anything resembling a normal life which now seemed laughable with Voldemort's return.

"That would get on anyone's nerves though," Remus sympathized. "Did they have to be so cryptic?"

"Wonder why you haven't been invited over to the Burrow yet," Lily agreed softly.

Harry just hummed in annoyed agreement, having no idea why he'd feel like correcting his mother he never made a trip to the Burrow this summer.

"Now that's just hurtful," Sirius gave an exaggerated pout which was worth it when Harry almost cracked a smile at him. Sirius wanted to still be angry, he was certainly still worried, but Harry was starting to look sickly pale again and he didn't want his pup to be remembering whatever was fixing to happen while still thinking everyone was still mad at him.

"Now that was just hurtful, I don't think I've ever been that mad at anyone."

James still sounded off, but he met Harry's eyes so no matter how much hurt and anger was still there, Harry smiled right back.

Harry's kindling annoyance was certainly muted from what it had been at the age of fifteen, but it was helping that those around him were finally starting to act at least sort of normal again, so Harry tried not to linger too much on the hurt feelings he remembered feeling from his friends.

"What does handling situations have to do with anything?" Lily asked in confusion. "They're not taking Ron and Hermione out on Order missions, most likely Molly's keeping them busy with chores."

Harry at first felt a flash of confusion, like he was quite sure his friends did know something of what was going that he still wasn't privy to, but it was at once drowned out by his certainty that his mother was right and his friends were keeping quite busy and not in a way they were enjoying. It was all very strange considering he still couldn't imagine the Burrow coming into play. In answer, he simply shrugged with some chagrin and said, "well when you put it like that it sounds ridiculous, but yeah that's pretty much what was on my mind. They were out there getting told everything while I was stuck-" he finished with a wince, not having any proper way to refer to the Dursleys anymore without watching them all flash with another bout of anger.

Lily felt her throat nearly swollen shut. She couldn't stand just sitting here and letting him go through all that! It was killing her not to ask if he'd talked about this with anyone, but she knew he hadn't, he'd said so himself. The only people he'd ever even remotely brought it up with were Ron and Hermione, and that hadn't been the real talk Harry needed, just his friends listening to him chat about what Voldemort could be up to now.

She took one look at Harry's face though and could tell now still wasn't the time to be bringing this up. Harry's face was still lined with tension as he tried to throw covert looks at his father and was still glancing periodically at the door. Clearly whatever they were trying to prove in showing they were trying to move past that moment wasn't fooling him completely, and bringing back up that graveyard moment would only make him feel worse. She wanted her son to feel safe here, not like she was constantly interrogating him, so it was probably best to wait at least until he was at the Burrow and she could trust Hermione to bring it up for her.

Sirius read all that with such a horrid wince it looked like his face was going to spasm off, but Harry couldn't think of a word of comfort for him or anyone. He couldn't help what his mind dwelled on, and even without the month long time span in between remembering that and where he was now, he could still remembering what it felt like. It was a mercy being here and not being able to constantly relive that moment like his dreams had been trying to do last night, but at least here he had distractions with his family so he couldn't dwell on that. At the Dursley's he'd had nothing.

Green met green as the two shared a look, Harry trying this very hardest to act like this was no big deal. He was failing, and Lily knew full well what she'd woken him from last night with her gentle touch, but she wasn't going to call him out either as clearly he was not going to have this conversation on top of the Dursleys spit out he was expecting very soon.

None of the boys were remotely surprised either, they'd all heard the noise Harry had been making last night and it really wasn't surprising if they thought about it. His recurring memories would of course bring back the dreams he'd be lingering on when he was that age.

Sirius had to work hard at it, but finally he got a tragic look strung across his face before looking around at Harry and demanding, "why do you always take the advice I give you like that? That's sound logic with what I know you get up to."

Harry just gave him an exasperated look back, he wasn't going to explain himself twice and he knew he'd had several mental rants about his godfather as well as his friends. Plus, at least he'd started with the nicety that Sirius understood him.

"Honestly you deserve a lot of credit for restraining yourself," Remus chuckled, "I know Sirius himself wouldn't have lasted."

Harry gave an absent smile as he tried to visualize it, but all he was finding was an empty house at the end, which made no sense. Of course the Weasley's would be at their home.

James and Remus couldn't help throwing their heads back in surprised laughter while Sirius' smile turned utterly indulgent.

"Well when you put it like that-" he began to agree, when Remus got a hold of himself and spoke over him, "the best part is, that's still not the most wild thing he's ever done. Don't think we've yet told you about the time a Ravenclaw dared him to tie a string up to-"

"You're going to give Harry the wrong impression about me," Sirius cut him off with a wagging finger and a mischievous smirk.

"What impression would that be?" Harry demanded as he laughed along, finally feeling the releasing tension from his shoulders as they all got a laugh again.

"That I was some scoundrel who deserved that detention," Sirius said, making his eyes go wider with innocence. "I'll tell you that one when I know these two idiots won't paint me in a bad light."

"You know that's never going to happen," James muttered loud enough they all heard anyways, but Sirius kept going with a smug smirk.

"You could always try hanging from the gutters," Remus couldn't help but suggest while he rolled his eyes.

"That's not nearly as comfortable or long term helpful," Sirius shook his head, "though I suppose if the telly's loud enough anyways, he could just lay on the roof, I'm sure he's agile enough to get up there."

"Why do we keep your friends around again?" Lily muttered to James as she watched them have a light bicker over the pros and cons of both while Harry watched indulgently.

"You know you love them," was James' only response. He couldn't decide if he wanted them to stop and keep going so that this bleeding chapter would be done with and he'd feel at least a little better talking to Harry again now that he'd cooled down, or keep listening to something so silly as a kind distraction. Harry made the decision for him.

While it was clear he was enjoying the show, and was the least looking forward to this chapter being over as it would only put him back in the spotlight, he still cleared his throat significantly to at least get past the danger they were all feeling because of that cracking noise still having gone unexplained.

Whatever amusement his pseudo uncles had just given Harry vanished at once as Harry shivered violently. He looked more frightened in that moment then he ever had when realizing what Vernon had been doing to him. Even as Harry tried to shake it off though and just tell the others he truly hated being kept there now more than ever, there was something lingering about Sirius reading about that place...

"Well that makes sense," Lily said fairly to try and get rid of at least one of the worry lines that hadn't gone away in ages now in her son.

"You sound like Trelawney," Sirius told her for the sole purpose of switching her worried eyes to being agitated upon him. "Dreams don't mean nothing."

Lily curled up her lip at him, prepared to give a volley of colorful retorts to that comparison, but Sirius promptly ignored her and smugly went back to reading.

"Of course I would!" Sirius spluttered at once, any amusement he'd collected for himself vanishing at once. "It means it's bothering you, and less importantly, I get to know when Voldemort's annoyed by something. That all matters very much to me."

Harry studied him for a moment before simply shrugging. He knew Sirius truly was concerned for his well being, but he still hadn't found the need to write his godfather any more than his friends of the annoying pain, it would only make his letters even more repetitious and not even remotely helpful as far as he'd been aware.

"You make us comforting you sound so drab," Sirius sighed.

"And I'm confident no one would be telling you that was old news," Lily added on forcefully, she knew no one Harry was sending that information to would just write him off like that.

Remus just winced and chose to say nothing, he couldn't even pretend to say how he'd respond because apparently he didn't exist anymore outside Dumbledore telling Sirius to go find his useless arse.

"I'd suggest letting that out then, alone in the park," James told him. "Better than on someone who doesn't deserve it." Or someone who might resume strangling him because Harry raised his voice. He wouldn't put anything past that monster.

Harry got a rather sheepish look about him though, like he was worried that might be exactly what happened.

Lily winced at the sharp volume Sirius was using while yelling Harry's thoughts, she honestly believed Sirius was venting a bit of his own frustration in there on Harry's part as he more than likely agreed with Harry's plight. Still, Lily tried to keep up a peaceable conversation "I thought you said those were hydrangea bushes, not begonias."

Harry gave her a strange look as he said, "there's more than one flower in those gardens."

"Well that last one at least is douable just to vent," Remus forced a smile that stuck out more than ever with Harry's seemingly never ending supply of frustrated demands. "Even though it'll most likely be chucked in the fireplace, at least you got all that out somehow."

No one responded, Sirius in particular was still pouting down at the pages that his godson was so clearly frustrated with him and yet Sirius thought Harry was in the right this time. What on earth was Sirius doing leaving Harry at that place? It had been made more than clear he hadn't the faintest idea what went on there, but even if he thought Harry was having the time of his life with those Muggles he would have thought he'd be insisting to Dumbledore to at least let Harry come around to Remus' place by now so that Sirius could visit. Or even the Burrow, since Molly and all the Weasley's most likely knew him now. It really was annoying Sirius as much as Harry the longer he thought about this of why Harry was still there.

James fidgeted hard, his hands tightening around Lily's waist again in fear that was clearly gripping her as well if her small shivers meant anything. Time was clearly passing Harry by and still no attack had come. What in Merlin's beard had that cracking noise been already? It was going to drive them crazy sitting on the edge of their seats not knowing.

Remus blinked quizzically, cocked his head to one side, then the other, before declaring, "nope, can't picture it. Here I was thinking he'd break that diet and his pants in his next mention."

Harry smirked a bit, but gave no articulate response. He had no clue what had wrought the change in Dudley to physically better himself, but Harry knew he hadn't considered it much more than what damage it could now do to others which was surely fixing to be explained.

"The mailbox then," James snorted in disgust.

"I think Harry should actually be terrified for his life," Sirius blinked spastically at the idea. "Teaching that little hippo to punch with accuracy and more power!"

"I still can't wrap my head around him in any training regime," Remus had an odd expression on his face like he wanted to laugh at the idea," but I suppose the best advice always has been play to your strengths."

James shook his head at both of his friends while still vividly imagining all the spells he'd still love to use on Dudley. It didn't matter he was Harry's age, he couldn't picture anyone raising a fist to his son anymore without seeing red and Dudley was still second on the list.

"Is it because you can set him on fire with a word?" Sirius asked innocently, "because I heard that can instill some real confidence."

Harry gave an easy laugh as he fell into joshing about Dudley, avoiding mentioning that after surviving Lord Voldemort Dudley was more laughable than a hedge.

"I'm starting to wish you had to take psych evaluations before learning to play in sports like that," Lily muttered bitterly, thinking that even if Harry wasn't his victim anymore, most likely Dudley was still bullying others out there with this new found gift.

James scoffed in disgust as he pictured it, and how any complaints would go nowhere and the best thing to do would be to call the Muggle police on that boy if there was any luck. Preferably while Harry was not in the vicinity.

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes as he remembered that stupid lie, but for some odd reason he had a bad feeling about his real school year to come and how it may be worth going to that center to avoid another attendance at Hogwarts this time.

"That would, certainly be, interesting?" Remus said brokenly, unsure if he was supposed to be laughing as the last time Dudley had bothered Harry he'd run off screaming to his mum about Harry setting a plant on fire, and now he'd be doing this in front of his friends. On the other hand, was testing Dudley really the best idea, as surely he would tell his parents and Harry was already in enough trouble.

Harry had an unfamiliar look on his face, but it was only because of the flashing green eyes that set the look off. Otherwise he was practically the spitting image of James, ready to antagonize someone because they'd ticked him off, to vent some of his frustrations when Lily'd just turned him down again. It was an uncharacteristic look for Harry and really showed just how frustrating his being there really was to him for Harry to be trying to vent in this particular way.

Remus rolled his eyes as he at once noticed Sirius adopting the same look as Harry, ready to rile Harry up in this clear display of fun to him, giving no regards to the consequences of what could happen if this played out. Honestly Dudley did deserve the outcome, but Remus still didn't want Harry to take any of the fall which was most likely to happen at the end of any scenario.

Lily huffed and gave Harry the stank eye for that, he knew quite well that he wasn't going to go cursing any of those boys and none of those Muggles would do any more than laugh at such a real threat to them. She understood he was angry but she could think of five other healthier ways than provoking Dudley and she was not happy to be hearing him entertaining this, but she still couldn't bring herself to scold him for it either. Dudley had done quite a lot of damage to Harry and he deserved just a tiny bit of payback, she just wished he'd think about the consequences more than Dudley squirming.

James couldn't help it though, he laughed just a bit under his breath as he was on Harry's side, his sons wit would be worth whatever fight broke out between those boys.

Harry clucked his tongue in annoyance at what he considered a wasted opportunity, but then why did he have a sudden surge of confidence he did use magic this night...and it involved Dudley.

All five of them finally gave a free laugh again, not a breath wasted on saying otherwise.

"The worst part is, I now know you're not kidding," James hissed, a fire rekindling in his eyes at that threat.

Harry fidgeted, but remembering his promise, decided against playing it off this time and weakly offered, "Well, it's better then the cupboard right? Probably because I wouldn't fit in there anymore."

"I think I liked it better when you weren't trying to be funny about this," Lily muttered in disgust.

Lily still couldn't help but clench her teeth in disgust of all of these people swallowing all of the Dursley's lies so easily. Lily could never imagine seeing such a scrawny little kid like Harry next to pampered Dudley and not questioning it, now he'd practically grown up and never had one single person said a word about such a thing?

"You're just begging for that fight tonight," Remus said with resignation.

"Least he was alone now, and not stupid enough to pull anything," Harry half heartedly defended while stopping the trembling of his hand going for his wand now. Every moment that passed left him more sure than ever something was fixing to happen...to him or Dudley. Maybe they really were going to be attacked tonight.

"And I was just dieing to know the answer to that," Sirius muttered belligerently as he flipped the page viciously, his mind's eye now vividly picturing what Harry was heading back towards, and if that cretin put his hands back near Harry again Sirius was going to have a much harder times stopping Prongs a second time.

Lily snorted volatility in surprised laughter which quickly dissolved into giggling while the other boys quickly gave a nice laugh for Harry using up Petunia's pet name like that. They were honestly starting to wonder though if they were being paranoid, if that crack really had been nothing. Harry had been alone for hours, far enough away from that house he really would have been vulnerable if anything was going to happen. They were at least trying to force themselves to relax, Harry wasn't in immediate danger, from the outside world anyways.

Sirius never would have believed he could read with such blissful happiness once again, but being able to read this after all the horrid feelings he'd already been feeling on top of yesterday's times made this mild taunting feel euphoric.

"I never would have bet he'd have so much self control," James smirked, still picturing that fat little blob sneaking sweets from the fridge when he'd been on his diet.

"Evans eh?" Sirius looked up and around curiously.

Lily just shrugged though, saying, "don't ask me, I told you my maiden names actually a common one. My dad never mentioned any more family to me though, so I wouldn't think there's an actual relation." Her face went an ugly puce color as she remembered that Harry was only there because Petunia was supposedly all the family Harry had left. If she did have some distant relative out there who was of her blood other than Petunia, she still suspected Harry would have been better off with some stranger she'd never met.

"Clearly not hard to do," Sirius snorted.

Harry felt a small smile as those around him laughed at his humor, they were clearly trying to force themselves to calm down finally after that disastrous blowout Vernon had caused, which made Harry feel all the more uneasy that the true danger was only just getting started.

Lily ran her hand through her hair with a sigh, accidentally flicking some into James' mouth, still wishing Harry wouldn't do such a thing but at least semi grateful he was doing something about it. It would be even worse to have no release she supposed, she just wished he wasn't suddenly even unintentionally mimicking his father in his school years like all the boys around her were clearly laughing about.

Sirius couldn't stop a little shiver creeping into his tone for realizing that, though he would have thought that was a good thing, such a random mention of that alley way managed to try and spring all his worrying fears of his time in Azkaban. What a stupid thing to be dwelling on now when those creatures were as far away as could be from his pup.

"Can't even bring himself to say wand," Remus rolled his eyes in disbelief at this walking dung bomb.

"No need for digging into blond jokes there Harry," Sirius critiqued. "I know you're better than that."

"Was just proving a point," Harry quickly said in defense, throwing his hands up in surrender at once of his mum giving him such a look of exasperation.

"And wouldn't that just make every one of your coming holidays," James snapped, honestly finding it a miracle the Dursleys never tried to provoke Harry, to find some way to get him expelled from a place they hated so much.

"For all he knows the crazy school of magic burns it's rule book every few months," Remus snickered.

"Well can you blame him," Lily grumbled, "he's twice the size of you."

Harry just shrugged though, he hadn't feared Dudley in a long time by that point, and while he still didn't consider himself much of a physical fighter, he was honestly rather confident by this point he could probably take Dudley on if he stayed out of his range enough and made at least one good blow of his own. He'd just never bothered as it still wouldn't win him anything where he was staying that night.

Even James was well aware they put opponents up in better racquets than that, but it still wasn't a nice thought Dudley could be out doing this to such young kids in his own neighborhood which they all honestly believed.

"Was I supposed to be impressed?" Remus mock yawned.

"Weight isn't everything," Sirius sniffed. "I'm sure Harry's still faster than him and Dudley."

"Running off a tattletale now," James sneered, still fighting back his own impulse to curse Dudley stupid.

Harry felt himself shiver just a bit, he had a bad feeling where Dudley was trying to go with that crack.

This time no one could wrangle up much humor for that jab, they all remembered what they'd heard from Harry last night and what Dudley may have been hearing for over a month now. However, if he was really fixing to mock Harry for his nightmares, that kid was in for a serious problem from the lot of them, more than he already was.

Sirius managed a laugh, but he was the only one who did.

Harry mumbled something as he shifted around uncomfortably, not meeting anyone's eyes. He tried to swallow, to say what he wasn't sure, because he only managed to cough and just gave up, waving Sirius on to get it over with.

He didn't want to, this wasn't going to go well.

"How would he, why-" Lily began sputtering in outrage. As cruel a child as she'd always seen Dudley, she never imagined he'd stoop to taunting Harry about this. He was having nightmares about it for crying out loud, surely some shred of humanity must live in Dudley for him to realize this was the very last thing you should ever taunt someone about! Harry's little jabs had been of no comparison to the cruelty of this! Yet she couldn't string all of that together, and Sirius wasn't going to wait for her to as he spewed it all out.

That one hurt the worst, and the foulest part was Dudley had no idea what he was really mocking. Harry hadn't once mentioned a thing about his parents to Dudley of all people, but the ghostly images of his parents that night haunted him nearly as much as Cedric.

Sirius finally felt some of the heat rushing his face receding in relief. He couldn't stop what he was forcing himself to spit out, mocking Harry like that even if every part of him knew it was technically another person doing it. He'd rather pull off all of his extremities than really hear someone saying things like that to his pup, and was more than pleased to finally find the part where Harry really pushed back.

James hummed in pleasure at the idea of leaving Dudley transfigured for at least a few days, might teach him a lesson or two.

Remus honesty wondered how long this circular argument could last. Harry had the most anger and power on his side, but he wasn't going to put it past Dudley to strike out in fear here soon and Harry may accidentally curse him just on instinct and get himself into some real trouble with the Ministry again.

"Did you finally do something?" Sirius demanded eagerly, but when he glanced up and Harry said nothing, instead he noticed his pup growing sickly pale, Sirius thought the answer was yes and he was just realizing how much problems he'd just caused himself. He didn't wait around for Lily or anyone else to berate him for what he'd done, Dudley had deserved it.

Then the book was suddenly in fear of falling from his too slick hands, icy chills covering him while sweat broke across his palms. He'd recognize that description anywhere, he kept imagining it happening to him in the coming months of his world going black with that cold. The oddity of it didn't sink in though until beside him Remus spluttered in disgust, "what the devil are those things doing there!"

Nobody answered him, no one had even the faintest idea. All Lily and James could think to do was praise Merlin and all their luck in the world Remus had taught Harry to do that Patronus spell so many years in advance, because whatever anomaly had caused dementors to appear in Little Winging right near Harry, it had saved their son's life.

Harry came to his senses first, a flare of protection raising his head as he saw Sirius' plight and tried to reach around and take the book from him, but that snapped Sirius out of it and he clearly wasn't having it. He held it protectively to his chest and gave Harry as superior a look as he could manage underneath that pale skin, "unless you actually died in this chapter from something as stupid as dementors when I know full well you can handle them, you're keeping your paws off this until it's your turn."

Harry rolled his eyes, deciding to leave Sirius be if he really wanted to unnecessarily prove something to them by reading about those things.

Despite her absolute confidence Prongs was going to make an appearance any moment and keep her son safe, it still didn't stop Lily nibbling at her lip in fear of how long Harry was going to have to suffer hearing her scream again before that time came.

Remus couldn't help a particularly hard involuntary shiver for that idea, what he wouldn't give some nights to blot out the moon, but it had never really occurred to him that a price that could be paid for that wish was a soul.

James honestly wished it was Harry doing this to Dudley, at least his son doing some sort of magic on Dudley would have been more laughable and entertaining than watching Sirius stutter this out in fear. He really had no clue why Padfoot was insisting he wanted to read about those creatures that more than likely were the star of his own nightmares now.

The problem was they all knew full well Dudley wasn't going to do a thing Harry told him to, Dudley still thought it was Harry doing this, so they all stayed clenched in fear as something new occurred to them. They hated Dudley for everything he'd ever done to Harry, but they'd never wanted his soul sucked out! Harry could certainly fend them off himself, but would he be able to keep Dudley protected as well? He'd kept a hundred at bay before, surely he wasn't about to witness something so inhuman happening to another person now.

Sirius was doing an unintentionally good impression of that noise in between drawing breaths to keep going. They really worried he was going to run himself out of oxygen in his strive to force himself to keep reading about the demons he kept fearing were going to ruin his life.

Sirius hadn't meant to shout that so loud he made everyone around him jump, but he honestly hadn't been expecting that word either. What on earth hit Harry at a time like this? Surely even Dudley wasn't that stupid!

James felt a snarl of outrage ripping up his throat, of all the times he'd wanted to inflict physical violence on someone rather than cursing them, this now made number one. Of all the times for that idiotic Muggle to be doing this to his son!

"My honest sentiments, really you should have told him much sooner," Remus hissed under his breath as he kept white knuckling his wand.

Sirius never would have believed he'd feel so much fear galloping inside of him for Dudley Dursley, but there was no way he could deny it was there now. Sirius had never before wished this fate on anyone, even that wretched Muggle, but the absurd imagery of this happening to a Muggle was at least helping to block out his mind's eye offering up the same image happening to him.

Lily could feel the scream building up in her throat, still unable to shake from her mind of Harry passing out around these creatures. He'd grown stronger since then, but even staring at her full grown son she still couldn't erase the fear of what those things once did to him.

Sirius might have felt bad at breaking off there with such a horrible timing, but his gaping mouth wouldn't shut and he was having problems finding his brain to keep going. It had gone from overdrive to off like a switch.

"That was wandless magic!" Remus collected himself first. "Merlin Harry, even the most advanced wizards struggle to do that under extreme pressure!"

Harry cocked his head to the side as he stared at him, something tickling in the back of his mind as he asked, "can't wands do magic without us though? Act on their own to aid."

"I've never heard of that," James came back to himself enough to say, "but I suppose none of us are wand experts either. You'd be better asking Ollivander such a thing."

Lily just shook her head in exasperation at her boy playing off such a moment and trying to divert it back to his wand like that. He really had no clue the potential he'd just enacted in himself.

None of them were quite over their panic, but that had been a healthy kick to make them realize that Harry was going to be fine! He'd take care of Dudley, though the miscreant only just barely deserved it. Surely Harry would be far more concerned for his cousins well being if something had happened to him, rather than still looking curiously into space puzzling his own question.

Sirius honestly wished he could go back and keep talking about all the insane things Harry could start training to do with this newly discovered skill of his, or even have a bloody chat about cabbages if it would get him to stop thinking about these things for even a second now. The only reason he was forcing himself to keep going instead of the cowardly impulses trying to convince him to give these pages up was that Harry was fine. His own plight was going to be worked through, because Harry would get through this.

James felt as if those own slimy fingers were gripping tightly against his own heart. He couldn't shake the image that Prongs was failing Harry now, of all times! It may have been Harry's magic and panic that was causing him to stumble over this, but he was Harry's guardian, that couldn't be a coincidence!

Lily had to resist the urge to press her hands over her ears like a child so as not to hear this next part. Her pleading screams mixed with that high cold laughter, James trying to save them with some time that would all fail...

Then Lily's trembling fingers truly did fly up, to cover her mouth to smother a gasp of fear. Her mind simply wouldn't process past the muddle of shock that she was no longer her son's worst memory, her screams would never haunt him again, and yet was this truly better? There was no such thing as a good worse memory, but somehow, in some twisted way, at least in that one she hadn't just died to save her son only for it all to have gone to waste in Voldemort's return. No, at least the vision Harry would have now was his parents truly being able to rescue their child. It would hold no real comfort to anyone, not even herself, though she had not a clue if the boys were even processing all of this in the same way she was, they were all looking ready to jump to their feat in moments and Sirius was going to keel over from forcing himself to read about this dementor experience replaying such a thing!

Sirius actually sagged back into the cushions with relief as finally Harry found his friends faces. He'd be safe now, he'd found his will, now all that was left to worry about was Dudley, still an odd enough concept he kept back those poisonous thoughts trying to cloud his own mind.

Remus found a laugh somewhere in him that still came out too strained, but he'd never deny he loved that mental imagery.

Harry blinked in surprise as he wondered if that was instinct, or Dudley had actually been trying to listen to him. He had no clue, wasn't going to ask, and had no doubts he never did ask Dudley about this experience.

Lily felt her nails digging into James' arms still wrapped tight around her waist, that warmth needed now more than ever as she forced away the image of that being Harry again! How many times had a dementor nearly taken his soul? What would he be if not for Remus? She was more grateful than ever when Sirius found his breath back and forced himself to keep going.

The relief flooding the room was nearly visible, none of them had felt any such thing in what felt like years though honestly they'd just started this book. The trauma of what Vernon had physically done to Harry stacked on top of another near death experience all combined into one thing really was too much to process all at once!

"I'm still remembering how to breath properly from you surviving it, haven't quite gotten to the processing of why's yet." James croaked, keeping his head rested on Lily's shoulders and her curled tight into his chest while he kept a steady eye on Harry. No matter how angry he ever was at his son, it would never trump the sheer pleasure of seeing him alive in this room.

Remus honestly wouldn't believe so, dementors affected Muggles much more physically than even wizards as they had absolutely no magical ability to fight them off. It would be an honest miracle if Dudley was even still awake instead of passed out on the pavement.

Sirius felt like his spine was going to snap in half he suddenly tensed so hard, his mind filling with images of the Death Eater who had sent those dementors there for Harry, and now preparing to finish the job! Only the tiny little print could distract him from such horrid visions that just couldn't be worse than that.

"Oh!" Lily felt almost dizzy from too many things happening back to back, and that random muggle appearing like that certainly was just another level of odd.

Harry could understand his mother's suddenly faint look, his own mind was already starting to feel bogged down with shock at so many things happening to him in this one night, and it wasn't over.

"Did she really say that?" Harry yelped fiercely, tugging the book away from Sirius who was honestly relieved to have the bleeding thing out of his hands by this point. "You guys mentioned him as a member of the Order before, as well as Mrs. Figg. There's no way that's a coincidence, which means they must be the same people you know as I do. So this means the Order-"

"Don't change the subject Harry." James told him with a far sterner voice than Harry had yet heard. He honestly felt like taking another step back, never having felt so much like a scolded child. "You promised, now is the chapter over?" James couldn't care one lick what the Order was doing in that moment, or anything else in the world for that matter.

He sighed as he closed the book for answer. He still thought them being honestly ridiculous about all this, he found discussing this groups members and what this could potentially mean for plans against Voldemort far more important, but he also recognized there was just no point in delaying this anymore. A promise was a promise.

"Yes, alright, so sometimes they did things like this, but it never, you know-"

James couldn't help but cut off, his temper still getting the better of him. "No, we don't know, and it's high bloody time you told us!" The only thing stopping him from going and throttling Vernon this second, even if his hands wouldn't fit he'd find a way, was the stupid bloody magic keeping them locked in this house!

Instead of feeling outraged, or even making a move to stop them, Harry just sighed miserably. He'd known this day would come, the book wouldn't just keep glossing over everything, but he really didn't want to get into this! It was over and done with, they really couldn't do anything to him now, and what they had done had never been anything awful enough that he had ever considered telling someone, let alone running away. Even what Marge had done back when he was thirteen had hurt him so much deeper than any physical blow Vernon or Petunia could duel out.

Still, glancing around at all of their haggard faces, he decided it was high time they knew anyways. What's done is done, now and then, so him telling his family wasn't going to make anything any better, honestly it was probably going to make it worse, but he told them anyways because he felt like they deserved to know. Sirius and Remus had told him things about their past, honestly it only seemed fair to divulge something so minor to him.

"Okay, yeah, sometimes they did stuff like this. I meant it though, they never left a real bruise! Sometimes he'd cuff me upside the head when I said something he didn't like, Dudley pushed me around a lot, she swung at me with what ever was in her hand because I'd asked to do something she didn't like, just little stuff like that."

Lily had to very carefully bite her tongue for fear of mimicking James and cutting Harry off when he was finally speaking about this, but she still in no way considered any of that little stuff.

"When I got older, they all pushed me around, reaching out and grabbing me, usually by the arm, and dragging me along if I was caught doing something they didn't like, then they'd shove me in the cupboard and yell at me. I think that's what he was doing now, just reaching out and grabbing hold of me, trying to get me to stop doing something he was afraid of. When I was really little and did some accidental magic, it scared Vernon so much sometimes he'd choke me until I went limp and fell down, but it never left a bruise because he never hung on that long. Just enough that I didn't fight him when he threw me in the cupboard. That's another thing, when I got older I realized they were afraid of me." He paused for just a moment with his head cocked to the side, though this revelation was no longer new to him it still seemed to stun him just saying it aloud.

"They wouldn't ever really do anything too bad to me, because they were afraid of my magic, even when I didn't know I had it. So they never would have done anything to bad to me, because they probably thought I could magically retaliate. Besides, even if they had done something worse, I knew it would be pointless to complain about it, because they were always spreading around the rumor that I was an odd and troubled kid that they kept 'out of the kindness of their hearts.' So if the neighbors saw or wondered anything, they put it down to just 'those poor Dursleys having to deal with a criminal in there house.'"

He seemed to find that conclusive enough he'd be happy to move on, but none of them really felt yet like this was just a matter to move on from. Those Dursleys had abused Harry, physically and mentally, and it was their reasoning and lies that had stopped him from telling anyone or anything being done about it.

Voldemort was a ruthless mass murderer who had made it his mission in life to eradicate a large portion of the population, and they were fighting him because what he was doing was wrong. Then he'd turned his sights on the Potters, and he was not going to get away with that, and still this was different. It wasn't possible to hate two singular people like the four of them did, but Vernon and Petunia were going to pay for what they'd done to Harry.

"I'm guessing you never mentioned a word of this to me?" Sirius muttered morosely, unable to kick out the twisting of hatred for himself he was feeling that Harry didn't know him that well. If only he hadn't been so rash in going after that rat that night, if he'd just stuck around and been there for Harry none of this would have happened to his pup.

Harry shook his head vigorously at once, looking at him like he'd lost his mind. "I didn't need to know you long to know what a terrible idea that was. You needed to be as far away from me as possible, and you knowing about any of that would have made the opposite happen. You moved into Hogwarts backyard because my scar twinged, what on earth would you have done if I ever mentioned this."

Sirius had to breathe carefully through his nose to not start shouting at Harry about that, it should have been his decision, but still he pressed, "not even Dumbledore though? Come on Harry, McGonagall or someone?"

"Did you?" Harry shot back with a triumphant look, clearly already knowing the answer even before Sirius winced and looked away.

Harry looked around at all of them one more time, putting a pleading note into his voice, "I'm sorry if you felt I was lying by not just saying all that, but I really just didn't think it mattered to know. I hated it there, I love it here, that's what mattered to me, I didn't see the point in making you all angry by mentioning something that was long done."

Any of them could have argued the point with him, it would have been easy to spend hours having an uneasy chat about every little thing those Dursleys had ever done to Harry and then reciprocating with a loving promise it was all going to be okay now, but Harry was a grown man now. They all still couldn't help envisioning this happening to their infant upstairs, but it truly was now his decision how he wanted to handle this. He didn't technically owe them anything.

Harry had kept his promise, and while he took one last hopeful look at his dad and waited for those hazel eyes to brighten when they met, he went back to the book. His dad may even still be mad at him, but at least they were okay now.

HPHPHPHP

Total self insert about my own life, I wrote my own book. If you want to read it, let me know. You've all been so sweet about my writing on here I thought I'd give a shot at the real thing...

*Alright, real talk here folks. I did a lot of thinking over this topic, as it's such a widely debated thing amongst HP fans about what Harry really lived through during his time at the Dursleys. Personally, I think a lot of it gets exaggerated, but I never undermine that they did Harry some real harm. I kept myself to the facts and truths that I knew about, and I may have built this up a bit, but don't take my/ Harry's explanation as one that isn't terrible. What the Dursleys did to Harry was a lot more mental punishment than physical, making sure he felt as unloved as possible, which can do as much damage to you as a beating. Guess I don't really have anything else to say, mostly it turned into a big thing between him and James more so then what the Dursleys actually did, but I hope the build up to this scene was at least kind of worth it.


	2. A PECK OF OWLS

Thanks as always for all of the sweet and lovely commentary! You guys don't understand how happy it makes me to see continued support for this!

To Guest: I tried to make it as clear as possible this was just Remus projecting. I too believe he had very loving parents, but I promise the topic will continue to come up with him when Teddy pops up.

To Peregrine Falcon: No, I don't add book titles or chapter titles because I feel it gives too much away.

HPHPHPHPHP

Harry still had a ton of questions, like the confirmation that Mrs. Figg was an Order member so what she could be doing hovering around him his whole life, and more details on this Mundungus and what he could be doing, and honestly a million other things about the Order, as well as the still problematic question of what on Earth those Dementors had been doing around there.

Yet when Harry hesitated in flipping to his chapter and looking at them hopefully, he knew full well they all knew what he was silently asking for, and none of them answered, he gave in and began his chapter. He was confident if they had any more idea than him they'd have said something, and he was right.

Sirius had to bite down on his tongue hard to stop himself asking what Mundungus had been doing there? What was the big deal if he had left? Figg was acting like that was the cause of the dementor attack, but that wasn't really making a lot of sense. However, it was still clear as day no one in here knew what was going on either, so they were hoping for a little more info and a lot less cat talk soon from this lady.

Harry blinked as a random memory resurfaced of that cat streaking away from the car, the very same one?

"You don't seem that surprised now," Remus pointed out at Harry's mostly annoyed face, he had a feeling he'd be seeing a lot of that for a while.

"I've been suspecting something about her since you guys mentioned her," he shrugged, "it just felt right."

"Why was I being followed?" The outrage finally burst out of him despite being unsurprised when they all looked as shocked as him at the news.

It was his mum though who nodded first and admitted, "honestly, I can see it though. We were groaning that Dumbledore sent you there unprotected, well maybe he does have the Order keeping an eye on you. At least now we know what that noise was, and there isn't even worse things around you."

Harry just looked at her in disbelief that she was considering this a good thing while he still scowled, "without telling me? I've been wasting away there for a month, and not one of them could have bothered passing me along a scrap of anything." He managed without much difficulty not to shoot a look at his godfather, he could already feel Sirius was just as unhappy about something as Harry and he assumed it was the same thing. Sirius wouldn't hide something like this from him.

Lily just leaned back into James shaking her head for an answer, she clearly couldn't say anything to Harry right now to make him even see this as slightly a good thing like she could, and none of the boys were helping as they looked as peeved as Harry at the idea he'd been followed without his knowledge, even by their side.

"Err," Harry began in confusion which temporarily derailed his anger as he recalled, "I remember Sirius could kind of sort of talk to Crookshanks while he was a dog, but..." he trailed off in confusion hoping someone would explain this.

"Well remember we said how highly intelligent kneazles were, and that Mrs. Figg breeds them for a living," Remus shrugged. "She's clearly kept her own litter and trained them to do her dirty work."

"I got that," Harry nodded, "but warned her?"

"Probably just gave the cat instructions come back with a twig or something and that means Harry's in trouble," James shrugged.

"It's nice to finally hear someone talk to Dudley like that other than Hagrid," Sirius nodded to himself.

"Neither have I, now that I think about it," Sirius acknowledged, receiving a smack from Remus for that random input.

Lily blinked in surprise as it first registered how badly Dudley had reacted to this whole instance. Yes Muggles were heard to have a worst time of it around dementors, but Dudley seemed to have full blown passed out, what had he seen? That spoiled little boy who'd never been told no in his life, surely the memory of what Hagrid had done to him wouldn't be this bad. She didn't bring it up though, in fact honestly disregarding the matter as whatever it was she'd probably never get an answer for and she was far more concerned hearing about what happened to her own son.

Remus nodded to what Sirius had said, that was like music to his ears hearing someone actually say the words to Dudley.

"You'll break your back," James gaped at his son with certainty.

Harry merely shrugged, he was well used to physical labor and while Dudley was probably the heaviest thing he'd had to carry at the Dursleys, he hadn't been able to find it in himself to leave him there for the dementors.

"She's just being no help," Lily murmured with concern, understanding Mrs. Figg was stressed and trying to get Harry to safety but continuing to yell at him wasn't doing any good.

Harry suddenly shivered, he just knew Mrs. Figg was entirely right about that and something worse than dementors was fixing to loom over him because of tonight's events.

Remus managed a small smile to himself, he always laughed whenever he heard wizards rephrasing muggle sayings, like this one was a favorite of his mother's who always said, 'we might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb,' when moving from one town to the next with her burden of a child after his oddities nearly got them caught again.

"I'd still consider that a bad thing," James muttered, "it would be odd for any muggle to see Harry's wand."

Lily smiled where James couldn't see, honestly thinking that muggle would find this whole scenario odd but Mrs. Figg was still right, he could write this off however he pleased, Harry needed to keep his protection up.

Sirius scoffed in disgust. If Dudley managed to get Harry hurt while he tried to protect him, that boy was going to be in even more hot water than before, pity be damned.

"That's actually a fair point," James huffed, "not just this summer, but ever. Harry was miserable growing up, and no matter what you didn't tell her it was as obvious as could be."

Harry was looking down at the next sentence in answer to his dad's question with a rising sense of hurt blocking his throat off. He'd always trusted Dumbledore, couldn't remember a time where he'd really questioned his headmaster, and this was his reward? As everyone continued staring at him expectantly when no one had a good answer for James, Harry had to clear his throat hard around a block and got out.

While the others all groaned and grumbled as that seemed to be a far to frequent thing, Remus rolled his eyes at them and said, "well at this point it's not surprising at least. He did say he wanted Harry to grow up away from that fame, what sense would it make to allow Figg to tell him anyways."

No one particularly appreciated the reminder, but they stopped gripping about the innocent old lady for now at least.

Lily still couldn't stop a nasty scowl for that, she still had reasons to dislike Mrs. Figg for this reason alone. Indulging in the Dursley's treatment of making Harry's life miserable when she should have been doing something to help her son! At the very least encouraged Harry to lie to the Dursleys when he went back while she was a friend to him!

"You'd need something faster than that," James disagreed with a sigh, his ire for Dumbledore not quite pushing out his usefulness with power right about now, Harry really could get in trouble with the Ministry for this magic until things were all said and done, and a calm voice like Dumbledore would be helpful. "I'd recommend Floo travel, but you haven't got any."

"An honest oversight on your part for another quick getaway," Sirius sighed, "but I suppose you could always hail The Knight Bus again."

"Still not fast enough unless you bribed them to bump you ahead of everyone," Remus reminded while Lily cleared her throat to cut them off.

"Well yes, after you explain why you had to use the magic," Lily reminded. "For now, all they're going to know is that you used that Charm, and they're going to try and make another note of it, something that you don't need in your life right now with how angry Fudge was last seen with you."

Harry gave an uneasy frown at his mother, he had a bad feeling not all was going to go as she said.

"And you have my blessing," Remus agreed wholeheartedly.

"Sounds like he hasn't changed much," Sirius rolled his eyes in contempt for the thief he'd once found an amusing friend. Sirius could still manage to be annoyed Harry had been followed by him, and still be angry Mundungus hadn't been doing his job right all at the same time.

"Well someone had to step in and make sure he was alright," Lily sneered while her eyes flickered to Remus and away sadly. She was honestly hoping that he might have taken up this job, at least if he or Sirius had been around Harry in Privet Drive they'd see more of what happened there and would have stepped in. Clearly not though, if this was Mundungus' regular job than that old codger wouldn't care a lick or even take notice of such things.

"No, in Merry Old London!" James grumbled, wanting to give Mundungus a good whack now himself.

Sirius couldn't help cracking an honest grin though, speaking his mind as usual, "you know, despite my annoyance at her for Harry's sake, I can't help but decide I like the old brode. Anyone who can throw around these kinds of insults is good in my book."

"You should come around her place for cake some time then," Harry snorted.

"Nah, not if it still smells like cabbages," Sirius crinkled his nose in remembered disgust, "but she can certainly come around mine."

"A business deal is better to do than looking after my son?" Lily asked of no in here dangerously, but suddenly making all the boys realize Mundungus was lucky if Mrs. Figg was the only angry woman he had to deal with.

Sirius felt a bark of laughter escape him, if he'd had any questions before they were gone now, he liked her.

Causing all of the boys to join in, even Harry came easily out of his foul mood to chuckle along at the mental imagery.

"Oh how I wish we could sit in on that conversation," James' shoulders kept shaking so hard he was making Lily twitch in his lap with her own laughter she was trying to suppress.

"That would ruin my fun though," Sirius said in chipper enough tones, but it was still very clear he meant it. Lily wasn't the only one who was angry Harry's looking after wasn't being handled by someone who wasn't this old idiot who'd run off and leave Harry like that.

"He was enjoying the show of watching you beat up the guy," Remus pointed out like that was obvious.

"That would give anyone a pause," James agreed.

"Just what would they have done if I'd gotten bored and really left myself?" Harry demanded.

"Been able to warn Dumbledore faster I suppose," Lily shrugged, as honestly she agreed with him, his being watched just didn't seem that useful if they were just supposed to be stopping him from using magic. She'd been thinking it was more to do with further protection in the Muggle area, but if that's all Dumbledore's endgame had been than it was an even worse idea than originally thought.

"Well it sure bloody felt like it," Harry grumbled, still fare more annoyed by the whole instance than everyone else it seemed who'd moved on to being annoyed by this Mundungus. Harry did admit though there was something irksome about the man as well he was having trouble placing feelings on, which usually meant a memory not yet returned he shouldn't be prodding at.

"For once," Harry rolled his eyes, causing all of them to raise a brow at him. He seemed to have turned into a belligerent teen overnight, which almost would have been funny if it wasn't so depressing to watch. They still agreed with him, he had been left alone all summer, and if this was really the thing to kick him into the action where his friends were, it was really sad.

"The poor dear," Lily couldn't help but worry. Harry's safety was far more important, but she still wished there were someone there to walk the woman home.

"Everything," he finished dejectedly as he could already see her in his mind's eye spinning away and trotting off up the street like he hadn't even spoken.

"She sure is a sight," Sirius gave one last happy smile which would likely be the last for hours. Harry was back at the Dursleys place, and couple together his earlier commentary with those horrid people and how he was arriving at the door with Dudley, no one needed much intuition to know this wasn't going to go well.

"Why would you ring the doorbell?" Remus asked while Lily whispered to James what that was. "You do by all technicalities live there, that's why you're bleeding there." The old bloodlust was already creeping back into his tone of imagining Vernon answering the door and attacking Harry at once. "Just march in there, dump Dudley on the couch and be done with your night."

Harry just shrugged as answer, he really couldn't find it in himself to explain he'd never entered that house without knocking first, it's not like he'd ever felt welcomed there. Then he remembered the last time he hadn't answered in his full thought process, and not wanting to do anything to have his dad so angry at him again, he told them that.

Again, no one hardly seemed pleased at his truth, but he was happy to see at least James smile at him for the effort it clearly took him to say that.

"Lovely," they all noted, while some irony warred with pity. Harry had vomited in this room from the stress of reliving his worst memories, now here he was watching Dudley do the same. If this had been any other person other than someone with their last name, they knew they would have been very concerned indeed for Dudley's circumstances. Now all they were really doing was picturing an amusing mental image of watching Petunia be forced to clean that up, though in all honesty it would probably be Harry instead.

Lily had to press her fingers firmly to her lips as she remembered that ridiculous lie Dudley had told his parents, though if that's what they ended up believing she really couldn't bring herself to care one way or another. Though it would further put some amusing spin in that the cure to this would be for Dudley to eat chocolate, something strictly against that diet he might still be on.

Remus cocked his head to the side as he tried to force himself to see this as a Muggle would, but even then he couldn't picture anyone stupid enough to be trying to rob such a wall like Dudley at any stage of his life.

"I might actually enjoy the rest of your summer if they go on some wild doxie chase," Sirius snorted, picturing Vernon trying to go after a dementor and vividly enjoying that imagery much more than he ever would have considered possible.

James mouth snapped open in outrage at once to know just what kind of explosion, but Harry was still reading on calmly, if subdued now like he was accepting his fate to the gallows. Least he wasn't tensed for a fight, yet.

Harry really wasn't screaming all that loud, but they all knew it wasn't meant to be kind either. Of course now that they thought about it, Dudley probably did think Harry had done all of that to him. Even now knowing the extent of what the Dursleys would presumably do to Harry in retaliation, they all still tensed in preparation for it to happen with mounting fear. Harry really shouldn't have put his wand away when he'd gotten to this house.

"Clearly nothing of lasting impact," Sirius muttered sourly, "otherwise he wouldn't still be walking."

"With the way he was talking to Harry right before this happened, he really should consider that a blessing," Remus agreed.

"Then why do you bother?" Lily rolled her eyes in disgust.

"The conversation goes by faster if I pretend to follow along while Vernon makes up his own assumptions," Harry shrugged.

"They really do make us all sound like some disease," Remus curled up his lip as she phrased it like that.

Harry watched in fascination as everyone around him flinched and paled all over again to what he found a fairly common sight. He still didn't think divulging Vernon's physical treatment of him had helped anything, the opposite as it seemed to make all their fears of the man ramp up to their highest degree, but he couldn't take it back now and seemed to decide the best way to sooth them was to read past the moment. He had every confidence at least Vernon wouldn't lay a hand on him now, hopefully he'd get that through to them eventually.

"Considering that could have been from any number of people, I can't say I'm thrilled Harry's finally getting more mail," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Hedwig better watch her little feathers," Lily muttered protectively, her hands still clasped tightly inside of James'.

"I wish," Sirius huffed under his breath.

Harry heard those around him screech so loudly, he was sure it ruptured an eardrum. He however just stared blankly down at the pages. He wanted to believe with everything he had that he would never have to leave Hogwarts before he had to, but there really was some great looming gap in the distance promising he would indeed be missing from his school for quite some time. It wasn't really because he'd been kicked out, right? Dumbledore would never let them keep him out, but Dumbledore wasn't -

"Harry!"

Harry shook himself hard, managing to push the pain back out of the forefront of his mind and offer up a weak smile to those around him. "Sorry, just really freaked me out is all, they wouldn't really expel me would they? You guys said it takes a few instances of these getting me even up to the Ministry and how rare it was, and this was only my second offense. Plus," he continued, switching from fear to anger as he pressed on, "they haven't even heard my side of it, how come they can just go and expel me whenever they feel like? Why-"

"Harry," Sirius repeated just a touch more calmly than his godson who was quickly driving himself into a frenzy. "I am positive everything's going to be fine, the Ministry doesn't even have the power to expel you from school so I don't even know what they're thinking with that. All they can do is fine you, warn you, and remind you not to use magic outside of school." When none of the color still returned to Harry's face, Sirius persisted in a forced more amused tone, "besides, if Dumbledore put up with us for all those years there's no way he'd have you leaving the place without a fight. As Headmaster, even if you are expelled, he can always chose to enroll you." He finished with a triumphant little smirk.

Harry managed a pleased enough smile for Sirius, though something in him lingered as he turned away, like maybe he should have left school for just this year, something to do with Sirius needing him far more or- he forced himself to cut off that time as his brain was beginning to feel cooked from too much thinking ahead.

Harry still couldn't stop his mouth sagging open in horror for that bit! There was no way he was losing his wand to anyone!

"But they can't do that," Lily fired up in protest. "They aren't allowed to do a thing to you until after the charges are proven, and you're allowed to give a reason of why you did the magic before it hits this level!"

Lily's rendition of the laws didn't seem to have gone in one bit of Harry's conscious, so she took a deep breath and tried something else instead.

"It's going to be fine love," Lily promised her shivering son at once. She hesitated, hating having to say so, but then promised, "it may not be the same, but honestly you can get another one." The suggestion felt cruel, like her cat had just died and someone told her to just replace him with another one right away, but the assurance that he could still have access to magical protection when he was let back into school had to be of some comfort.

For a few moments more Harry could do nothing but gape in shock at the realization his wand was still going to be broken, but his hand crept into his pocket now and closed tight around the phoenix core which gave him enough hope to continue on that hopefully this would never be a permanent fear.

"That's the only part of the bleeding letter that makes any sense," James rolled his eyes in disgust, though even that wasn't known to happen until after the third strike, this was all very extreme.

Sirius scoffed in annoyance at the pleasantries, no one would be doing very well by the end of that letter.

None of them could stand watching Harry be like this now, without a word of comfort any of them could offer. Even Sirius had claim to another home in the Potter's manor outside of Hogwarts, none of them could grasp how it must feel to only find one place on earth safe. He wouldn't even feel right at The Burrow anymore, watching everyone around him still being in school.

"Not that I ever really consider leaving that place a bad idea," Remus shrugged, "but just where do you think you're going again?"

"Hadn't got that far," Harry sighed, some lingering hope trailing in him hoping he wouldn't have to, something would happen so he'd never have to go that far.

It took a moment for Lily to realize she wasn't the only one trembling with fury at the way he continued to speak to their son, James still seemed likely at any given moment to resume his frenzied anger to get out of here and end Vernon's life if he kept treating Harry like this after he'd put his hands on their boy.

Sirius shook his head sadly as he thought of all the insane things Harry had been up to lately, and how madhouse may actually apply to his old school in some terms with the way Harry's years went there.

"If only," Harry sighed in honest disappointment, dispelling at once the hope that had lit everyone else Harry had actually cursed that buffoon.

"Three times in one day really does have to be some kind of record," James shook his head at this.

Harry paused after he'd finished with this, his head cocked to the side as he asked the others, "does that sound a little off to anyone else? Don't do more magic but don't surrender my wand, how am I supposed to do both?"

"Talk them down obviously," Sirius rolled his eyes, "offer them a cup of tea and have a nice chat before they destroy your link to magic, works like a charm."

Remus gave him an absent nudge while he honestly pondered the question. "My best solution would honestly be your original plan though, better to avoid the fight and make a run for it. Arthur's intentions are good, but you really don't have many options until this all cools down."

"Here's hoping I send him that next with that," Sirius sighed in agreement.

Harry hummed in silent concurrence and went back to reading instead of the internal struggle he felt kicking inside of him. At the point of his fifteen year old life, he honestly trusted Arthur more than Remus, maybe not Sirius, but as of now it was hard to decide whose advice he'd take more...

"Guess it depends on the branch you're talking about," Lily sighed. "He really does have a lot of influence even without the actual titles to back anything up, it honestly wouldn't surprise me if he could turn this whole thing around before the nights even up."

Harry did finally start breathing easier at that news, he had full confidence his mother was right about that at least.

"You really love that extreme punishment don't you?" Sirius shivered in disgust. "Resisting arrest is a big offense I'll admit, but they won't haul you into Azkaban for that alone. They have a few holding places in the Ministry you'd be left in until your trial, and the chances of you getting off lessen by a ton if you fight, but you're never going near that place Harry."

"Same for you," Harry reminded at once as he couldn't help but relax back as he felt the truth of Sirius' words.

Sirius gave Harry a confident smile back while rolling his eyes at his friends own pleased looks.

"Like what?" James snorted, "that you know of anyway."

"He came back after the Ministry kicked him out of Hogwarts," Harry reminded of his second year, "I guess this hardly felt like as big a deal as a student."

Lily shook her head fondly at Harry's logic, but didn't correct him if it would keep him from panicking.

"They don't have the benefit of hearing your train of thought," Remus chuckled, "otherwise I'm sure anyone would have been confused by that."

Harry could feel the interruption coming of, again, why he bothered answering these ever rude people, but he could already feel his own mind's logic acknowledging what he was sure would pop up.

"Well I guess," James grumbled under his breath, though he'd still rather Vernon's throat just be removed, that would be quietest of all.

Lily's face puckered with dislike, but she honestly wasn't even that bothered, this was the least insulting thing he'd said about her life of late. James decided he'd ask later what his government had anything to do with canines, he didn't care enough right now.

"It really is impossible for that ignoramus to hear more than one thing isn't it?" Remus rubbed at his temple at the mere thought of trying to speak to this man, rather than leaving him alone with James which was the worst punishment possible.

Harry just sighed, he honestly had no idea why he even bothered, he'd never had a voice in that house, least of all when Dudley was speaking.

That brought all the boys up short in surprise as it occurred to them for the first time, Sirius voicing, "wonder just what he heard?"

"The worst thing we know that happened to him was Hagrid giving him a tail," Lily remained with a careless shrug, "and as that shouldn't have really caused this, I can't think of anything."

Harry sat there mulling it over for a moment, and said without a trace of confidence, "I know I never ask Dudley so this is me guessing, but I like to think he's finally just getting some comeuppance and hearing all the kids he's always bullied."

"Why would that be a bad memory?" Remus scoffed, "he'd preen at the idea of all his victims."

"If the thought bothered him that much, he'd have stopped being what he was ages ago," James agreed.

Harry still tried to give his reason, "after he met someone who could take him on, Hagrid, I actually never saw him keep bullying people again though. Sure he still beat up kids, but it was always a quick blow to prove his point and then he'd leave his gang to finish. I don't know, maybe Hagrid giving Dudley a tail also forced him to grow a conscience."

"I don't really buy that," Sirius rolled his eyes, "but I don't really care either as it's about Dudley. So you think what you like pup, I'd rather hear about you not getting expelled."

Harry clearly wasn't convincing anyone else, so let the matter go.*

"I thought you said Vernon had told all that he was above doing such things," Remus rolled his eyes.

"I thought so to," Harry shrugged, before reminding them, "but I guess that one was above me, I didn't actually write these you know."

"Points for irony," Sirius chuckled maliciously. If that was the worst thing they could do to the Dursley's, he was positive he could manage that.

"Whatever it was won't have any more of a lasting impact than that stupid tail," Lily muttered in disgust, honestly thinking the Dursleys were never going to get the retribution they deserved and it would never not fire her right back up.

All five of them blinked at the oddity of that sentence, not one of them ever having thought of Vernon as a maternal person, and that was a genuinely human moment. Which only managed to make their loathing for him stay at a simmering level, managing this for Dudley and still able to act how he did towards Harry.

"That would be an interesting spell," Remus couldn't help a twisted little smile. "Someone should look into the properties of how to harness a dementor's powers and channel it into one."

"I'm sure if they did, we wouldn't even need those bloody beasts round Azkaban anymore," Lily agreed in honest curiosity, "the magic would keep them subdued if imbedded right." She had a few more ideas lingering in her head at the thought of this, but neither of them continued as despite Sirius examining his knuckles and blatantly ignoring them, no one could pretend not to notice he was starting to lose color again at the topic, so Harry quickly moved on.

"I'm convinced that's the only way he can understand anything," James huffed.

Harry couldn't help but pause there and just gaped down at the words, then looking up and around to see everyone else just as surprised.

Lily snapped out of it first, heated disgust bleeding into her tone, "why am I not surprised that of everything she would have heard me mention of my world, that's the thing she'll claim knowledge of after all these years. A place she was probably hoping I'd go at some point."

"Don't say that Lily Flower," James whispered behind her, trying to hid another violent shiver of his own. He couldn't even bare the idea of Sirius being in that place, his hands convulsed around his wife at the notion of the same fate befalling her.

Lily patted his hand absentmindedly while Harry collected himself enough to go on, though something of this explanation felt a little curved still. His mum wasn't entirely wrong of why Petunia knew this, but not entirely correct either.

"I honestly forget sometimes you two are related," Harry sighed, even picturing the woman in his head she looked nothing like his mother.

"I wish we weren't now," Lily grumbled lowly.

"What's this?" Harry asked curiously.

Lily sighed, casting a look at the Marauders, before admitting, "She's talking about Snape. She caught us one time talking about them."

She was expecting more than a few snide comments from the boys about her long ago friendship, but unbelievably none of them said a word, except for James, who simply said, "Thanks Lils, cause that was really confusing. I thought she meant me for a second, and the one time I met her, we didn't exactly have a conversation about this."

Lily all but beamed at her husband for showing any restraint and not making some crack about her childhood spent with him.

"While you were only half right, she still wouldn't have bothered," Sirius uttered tersely, he hadn't forgotten the anger he'd felt when he'd learned Harry hadn't even known his own parents names because of these bleeding people, all the injustices they'd done to his pup would never leave his mind.

None of them bothered to smother their mean laughter. It was nice to see Vernon struck dumb for even a moment, though they'd rather he'd just been struck, they'd take it.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Remus sneered, "this is the most I've heard him squirm this whole time, you won't find any of us putting a stop to it anytime soon."

"He does remember those can get into the house from other than windows, yes?" James scoffed of no one.

"I don't understand," Lily ran her hand through her hair in utter frustration of having to say that. "Dumbledore should have gone up there and pointed the laws into whatever idiots faces approved of this in the first place and the whole thing should have been redacted. Why this continued farce of a hearing?"

Something of what Sirius had said in the last book lingered in Harry's mind, 'the whole show had been so everyone could see how much he hated the boy.' Harry somehow felt that wasn't too far off the mark for what was fixing to happen to him, but he didn't think using his godfather's quote would make the pain any less if he tried to offer up a suggestion for his future so instead chose to say nothing to his mother's rhetorical question.

"At this point it's a bleeding miracle it wasn't set for Halloween," James grumbled under his breath, "then we know he'd get the book."

Harry heard a few splutters of angered disgust around him, but at this point they couldn't really be surprised Vernon would wish for such a thing so Harry ignored them.

James really couldn't seem to stop a snarl of outrage drowning out Harry's words for a moment, but he looked up at his dad in exasperation which did nothing to curb his mood but Harry still kept going.

"I wonder if we even know," Sirius' face fell another few inches as some resentment of Arthur nagged at him. He was doing far more to help Harry than Sirius ever could, he was lucky if he'd even find out before the trial was said and done.

"As they should be," Sirius muttered pitifully, all this trouble and Harry hadn't even used a curse on his intended target, instead he was being punished for saving these useless lumps on his existence.

Remus couldn't help snorting in a bit of amusement at Vernon calling them the wrong thing. Whether intentionally or he just hadn't grasped the name yet, both still showed his continued levels of idiotics, which was nonexistent to begin with.

"He actually manages to make the term even worse," Sirius couldn't help but blanch as he leaned just a bit further into the couch.

"Thanks to Harry," Lily sniffed, knowing no Dursley would ever do it, but Harry deserved to hear, "which by the way, you're owed a thanks for love. So I'll say it for them, it was right what you did for him no matter whether he deserved it or not, so thank you."

Harry just gave an absent shrug in answer. He hadn't exactly stood around and had a moral quandary over whether he should or not, he'd just reacted. His mum was right though, no one in that house was going to say this, and it still managed to touch him she'd considered giving it to him.

James narrowed his eyes at nothing as he tried to picture something so stupid happening, but he was coming up short.

Sirius couldn't stop a violent convulsion as he forced every last bit of his mind not to think of that.

"Sorry we can't drag this down into single syllables only," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Now that would have been interesting to see," James snorted in disgust at the idea.

Harry really did have to fight down the compulsion to stop himself giving a very sarcastic reply of, 'oh you're welcome by the way. If I get expelled from Hogwarts just remember what for!'

"I'm just getting all kinds of flashbacks to your first year," Lily offered a crooked smile.

"Now that hurt!" Sirius yelped at once, considering he'd just felt the exact opposite. He was jubilant he was even involved enough in this mess to be passing Harry any messages along.

Harry just grumbled inarticulately for a moment before commenting, "how are all these owls even getting to me so fast? Normal owl post isn't that fast, these are taking minutes."

"Well the Ministry has a way to speed owls along to their destination, they get special charms placed on them to fly them along faster than should be possible, though they never use it on the same bird twice as that could be lethal to them, and of course they have to fly back on their own to just become department memo owls after that." She realized she was getting off track and quickly retraced, "Arthur could be using the same of course, though I'm not sure how Sirius managed it," she finished with a curious look at him.

"I might have Floo'd it there," Sirius shrugged, "it did mention it fell out of the fireplace. Don't know how I know honestly, but that's all I got."

"Us?" Remus asked hopefully while everyone else in confusion.

Harry ignored that and asked petulantly, "does everyone know what's going on besides me?"

"They just haven't gotten a chance yet Harry, everyone's scrambling around to find out what happened, then I'm sure someone will tell you what they've found." Lily said with absolute confidence. Whatever motives Dumbledore had before in keeping Harry out of the loop, surely they wouldn't still apply now that it was made perfectly clear Harry wasn't remotely safe by any means at that place.

Harry didn't look very convinced, but he seemed to believe enough he kept going.

James normally would have snorted with laughter, as Sirius was far more known for sending paragraphs worth of letters full of everything he was thinking during his summer holidays. It only managed to sober James up all the more though that he hadn't once seen this of his Sirius again, this was more of this after Azkaban Sirius acting like Arthur when he'd agreed with Remus earlier, and it really freaked him out.

"I didn't realize you wanted acknowledgement for that," Remus mocked while beginning to raise his hands in applause, "let me fix-"

Harry blatantly ignored him while reading loudly, they knew full well that wasn't what he meant. He knew everyone knew he could handle a dementor, it was the other part that was rankling him.

"Hey," Sirius pouted again, wondering why Harry was taking so many digs at him when he was just trying to help, "I'm doing no such thing."

"Sure felt that way to me," Harry huffed without looking up.

"I wouldn't want to either," Harry grumbled for himself.

"He's successfully managed to say that a different way three times now," Lily rolled her eyes, "he is clearly doing it on purpose."

"Well that we can actually agree on," James groaned while letting his head fall against Lily's shoulder for agreeing with that man about something. Lily patted the wild hair with sympathy, a contemplative look on her face as she still wanted an answer to that as well. It really didn't seem in Voldemort's style to have done this, not after the show he'd made about being the one to kill Harry, surely he'd be sticking with that and sending creatures to do his bidding was above that rule, could make Voldemort look weak. A random attack then? More unlikely than Voldemort, but there weren't any other possibilities.

Lily quickly explained all that she'd just been thinking, and no one disagreed with her, none of it really made sense.

"I'm honestly curious now just how many times he can butcher that," Remus muttered absently.

"Harry, you're feeling alright now, yes?" Lily quickly asked in concern as he just kept mentioning how much his head hurt and if he needed a quiet moment-

"I'm fine," Harry quickly assured. "I certainly remember my head feeling like it was going to cave in any moment, but I promise if it was bothering me that much now you'd know."

Lily wasn't entirely sure of that, as he'd gotten well at smothering his pain in front of them to stop them worrying, but she also trusted that he would excuse himself if he really needed it.

"Those are the only conclusions he can come to, his own," James scoffed.

"I'm fairly confident when you're on the run, you don't hang around your own house," Sirius snorted in disbelief.

"Though it's some logic if you know Harry well," James reminded with an odd smirk at his friend.

Remus chuckled lightly while Harry was left wondering why he was feeling like he missed a joke, but he didn't bother to ask as he was almost done with this head splitting night.

"I don't blame you for coming to that conclusion," Remus sighed, "it just doesn't make sense with his previous history with you. Plus, why now, after all those months alone, what could have changed?"

"Maybe we just didn't get to hear the switch, and something did change making Voldemort want Harry out of the way right now instead of doing it himself," Sirius said uneasily. "I'm not entirely ruling it out."

Harry said nothing for their argument, he could just feel the real answer hadn't even been theorized yet.

"That is indeed an interesting flip of dynamics," Lily rolled her eyes, not finding it nearly interesting enough she wasn't still planning on disemboweling them.

"Because this is always a fun topic," James muttered under his breath, while Lily snuggled a bit more into his lap.

Remus could feel his jaw working furiously to hold back a retort to that while Sirius couldn't muster up quite the same restraint and voiced several colorful sentences under his breath, but both were working furiously to keep it that low in lieu of the shouting that would only make Lily, James, and Harry grow even more pale.

"When you put it like that, it really does sound ridiculous," Lily agreed absently as she began twirling a bit of hair around a finger, her mind clearly not all in this topic anymore.

"Almost makes me wish dementors had popped up sooner," Harry murmured to himself, anything other than that dull lifestyle he'd been forced to suffer through.

"While normally I can agree boredom is to be avoided at all costs," Sirius nodded, "I'd think you'd at least appreciate some of the quiet time considering last year."

"I'll take a dragon over Privet Drive," Harry reminded to Sirius' shivered disgust.

Despite Harry reading that in as bland a tone as he could to reinforce he wasn't feeling that now, much, he could still see Lily twitching in the corner of his eye and fighting the impulse to come check on him, infusing his voice with a touch of warmth as he continued.

Lily was suddenly astonished at the well of hurt that was now trying to climb her throat. She'd never forgive Petunia for the way she'd treated Harry, but what her son had just witnessed in her sister's eyes was what Lily kept picturing of her old Tuny. It's why it hurt so much to envision this shrew treating her Hare Bare like this. She had to clear her throat hard to get rid of a sudden lump, and brushed Harry impatiently on when he tried to break off.

"You know, I think I like that better than calling him Riddle," Remus snorted.

"I won't have it," Sirius sneered, "I won't be indulging anything Vernon comes up with."

"He's actually getting farther away from the word every time," James arched a brow.

"That one may have been funny if they actually dismembered you," Sirius snorted.

Harry blinked spastically down at the pages like he thought his glasses were playing tricks on him. He'd always hated it there and never been shy of saying so, but he'd also never considered the possibility of truly being kicked out like this.

"Honestly though, I think I'm impressed this has never happened before," James' face was turning an ugly red color as what had been said really registered. "He clearly despises you, why hasn't he done something before to get rid of you permanently?"

"Don't know," Harry shrugged, though he could tell it wasn't really meant as an actual question. "Not like I've ever asked him."

"I'm almost happy about this," Sirius groaned, "least now you'll never have to deal with them again. You can come do whatever I am without anyone really protesting, since clearly you won't be making an appearance at the Burrow anytime soon." He hadn't meant to sound so bitter while he'd said that, but the outrage that Dumbledore was trying to keep Harry there really was pushing his buttons, and now the irony was that wouldn't even be an option any longer, to which he was grateful for.

"I'm impressed he noticed what kind of car it was," Remus rolled his eyes at the odd detail.

Harry read that in an almost despondent way. He could actually see Vernon's logic, and while he'd never cared before this night about the Dursley's well being...he could see the point. Anyone around him was in danger if Voldemort realized that...

"I swear I got more mail in that one night than I did all summer," Harry rolled his eyes to dispel his train of thought. No need for anyone around him now to realize what he'd been thinking.

Harry shuffled uncomfortably at so many hateful glares in his direction even if they were aimed at the book, but after Vernon's attack earlier he couldn't blame them for their reactions, he just quickly read past it.

Lily honestly still questioned that. Why take in a child you had no love for? She'd honestly been pondering that question while she'd watched James have his meltdown, and she could come to no real conclusion. There was just no way you could raise an infant without love, the care it took to nurse them. Which meant that all this must have started when Harry would show his first signs of magic and their fear would begin, but how long had that taken? Long enough that they'd had him and had no more excuse to be rid of him? She still honestly wished Harry had been left at an orphanage rather than that cruel childhood he had dealt with at the hands of her extended family.

"So, ah, what exactly does that mean?" James asked hesitantly, not wanting to break a clearly open bit of honesty in his son when it came to these people.

Harry gave him a loaded look, then shrugged and said, "Suppose it just meant keep me as miserable as possible. I've now honestly told you the worst of it, if you really want me to sit around and in detail recount every time of it then we're going to be here all week. Like I could remember every stinking instance anyways."

That wasn't exactly comforting, neither the blunt honesty or the fact that this was so common place he'd lost count.

James laughed softly under his breath as he imagined the bird attacking her, then rounding on Vernon. It wasn't the justice he wanted for what they'd done to his son over the years, but a few scratches wouldn't kill them either.

"Err," everyone muttered in surprise. That was a Howler, and that bird wouldn't have dropped it in front of her if it was meant for Harry...

Harry had to give himself a kick before he could move on, everyone else was so stunned they hadn't even collected themselves yet.

"A letter?" Remus demanded, coming around enough to continue laughing at these idiots. "He dosen't even know what that is, and he just assumes it's dangerous."

"Honestly though, that's safe when encountering anything magical," Harry shrugged back.

"Like that's ever stopped a Howler," Sirius snorted as he rubbed his ears in absent remembrance.

"Who on earth..." but James' voice failed before he could get out the whole question.

"Who's last what?" Remus snatched the book away from Harry like he thought he was holding out on them.

"I, have no clue." Harry couldn't stop blinking, like that would make the surprise any less.

Lily broke first, and she flipped straight to anger. "Who the bloody hell is she in magical contact with to be receiving anything like that! She can not have spent any amount of time harassing you for doing the same when she's been doing this for any length of time!"

"You didn't see her face," Harry shook his head in bewilderment. "I promise, she has no more idea than we do who this is from."

"Is there some other Petunia out there with the exact same address," Remus raised a disbelieving brow, "because owl post does not get confused easily."

Harry kept staring at the letter a moment longer, but as the silence rang he forced himself to go on. There was just nothing to speculate, nothing at all to guess at. This was by far one of the randomest things they could have come across.

"She what!?" They were all entirely sure they'd heard that wrong. Petunia had no reason in the world to argue with Vernon, least of all about Harry. This clearly must have something to do with the letter she'd just received...which only made it all the more mind boggling! This was beyond frustrating to every one of them, they had yet to come across a problem they couldn't begin to speculate about because there were just no possible options!

Harry watched them all in a stumped and fuming silence, before sighing heavily and finishing.

"I'll buy that as soon as I do a Nimbus," Remus rolled his eyes.

"There's what we've been missing," Sirius rolled his eyes testily at the return of the Dursleys they knew and hated. He almost prefered the ones that were insulting dementors and talking about Snivellus.

"If she actually answered you, I might take back one of my death threats," James scowled at the book.

Lily winced with renewed hate at the reminder of that hated ingrain she'd put into her son, that had taken him so long to open up to them or anyone.

"That's done," Harry sighed as he passed the book to Remus.

"I think I'm honestly relieved," he sighed as he stared down dauntingly at the next page. "That argument was turning circular, clearly they weren't going to answer you, but certainly credit for continued trying."

"I still can't believe we haven't got a clue what any of that was about," Sirius huffed, feeling ever more frustrated they'd just started this one and they already had a pile of questions with no answers in sight.

HP

*In answer, JK has said that Dudley heard the screams of all his victims hit him all at once and that's what changed him. I dismissed this in the characters as what he heard though because I'm not sure if that ever made sense, after all he'd have heard them screaming while he was bullying and surely just laughed it off. If the noise bothered him so much he would have simply found reasons long before now to stop bullying. However as I've never really come up with anything else I'm leaving it open ended for fan theories which I so love.


	3. THE ADVANCE GUARD

To Alexis: I promise a fair shake to all characters, and Mrs. Weasley is no exception. I won't let Harry let anyone bawl her out too bad, no worries.

HPHPHP

Remus gave a bleary look at the start of his chapter, he had no doubts that not a one of their questions was going to be answered, honestly he wouldn't be surprised if even more piled up, though at this point that didn't feel possible.

"I'm fairly confident you know about as much as what's going on as any of us," Sirius pointed out, "but the leaving part is relevent yes."

"I know someone knows more than they're telling me," Harry grumbled, "they always do."

"I thought Ron and Hermione had implied they were in the same place," Lily asked.

"Just in case," Harry shrugged, some biting words trying to creep across him about how even Sirius was in the same place as them, Harry was the only one left out.

James twitched violently at all the blows Harry had gained in just one day from that place, but it was honestly of some small comfort that what Vernon had explicitly done to him wasn't a lingering pain in this moment.

Lily sighed softly as she watched that agitation reliving in her son now, he was being more twitchy from these remembered frustrations than he had when he was even in a life or death situation before. She'd wished countless times to be there for him in this future, his past, but now she wished it yet again for a new reason, to calm him and promise it would get better.

As if sensing her, their eyes met and his face smoothed for just a moment as he smiled at her, he knew.

"Honestly though," Sirius shook his head at himself, "that really is just insulting, seeing as someone should have said something long before now anyways." Sirius couldn't shake that nasty little thought of where he was, if he was so busy still out looking for that traitor he was starting to slip on taking care of Harry. What that rat had done to his godson last year to help bring Voldemort back could have easily rekindled that fire to see him punished, but Sirius wouldn't really make the same mistake twice and drop everything to go after him, right?

Harry grumbled and rubbed at his forehead for his own mind throwing questions that hurt like the dickens now just to be asked, a name should be on the tip of his tongue.

James groaned on his son's behalf, he could only imagine how frustrating that would be, and told Harry, "do you know how impressive it is to me you haven't broken yet and gone there in person? You've far more restraint than I do by just pacing and grumbling."

Harry was well aware that everyone in here had tried to leave at least once by now from a snap of frustration, but Harry knew he wasn't too far off from doing the same in that moment.

"I think Harry's going for the Snitch and trying to receive an injury on every part of himself before the nights up," Remus grumbled.

"We should count ourselves lucky if he dosen't deck the person who arrives for him at this point," Sirius agreed.

Harry felt a sharp thwap against his mind for that description which he refused to linger on.

"Haven't you learned by now not to take your anger out on your owl," Lily rolled her eyes at Harry, trying to remind him of Hedwig's deserved attitude last year.

"I hardly think that in the moment," Harry said sheepishly, though he hoped he wouldn't get too cross with her.

Harry's eyes did light with just a touch of warmth for a single moment, his owl always seemed to be more prone to bringing him back her dead catches whenever he'd had a fight with Vernon, she could just sense things about him like that.

Sirius flexed his hand in concern as he watched his pup with wide eyes, but there was pure understanding in his voice as he told, "guess I can't even blame you."

That hurt Harry worse than if he had been angry at him. He'd wanted all summer for someone to understand how upset he was, and now his godfather really seemed to, but still Harry never would have wanted him to see him like this.

Remus was honestly just confused at the Sirius in the book as well for not having done something long before now. What had happened to their Sirius who sent long, but disjointed letters like he'd been forced to stop and start it several times, the ink varying shades of dry and also full of random anythings he could cobble together to send for good news for them coupled with endless complaints of what his parents had done to annoy him this week. If Padfoot had sent him a letter like he'd been sending Harry, he'd think something was extremely wrong with his old friend. He'd tried to force himself not to linger on these changes to their friend as much as James clearly did, but some things he had problems pretending to overlook, and this was one.

"Snack for the road," Sirius forced out with chipper.

Harry watched the orange owl in the corner for a moment cleaning its feathers and ruffling up its tail to the brown cat slinking along its post at the bottom. The image suddenly double layered with his own snowy white doing the same thing with Crookshanks around, and it left a soft pain in his heart he couldn't see this again in the foreseeable future. Hopefully whenever he'd come from, someone was taking care of his owl now.

"I like to think they aren't ignoring you now," Lily still tried, her eyes still a little wider than should be as she kept trying to think of some way to get rid of this lingering anger she could still feel coming off of Harry. "It must be Ron's parents, and Dumbledore, stopping them telling you everything, which you must know would be a bad idea in letter form anyway." It didn't even make herself feel better for a moment, as letters should have ended ages ago and he should be with his friends rather than a place he detested so much.

"Right," Harry agreed without emphasis.

If anything that seemed to make Harry feel worse though as he sunk deeper into his cushion, a part of him already forewarning him not to get his hopes up about that.

"They didn't lock me in there again," Harry promised at once before the book could imply worse, "I just couldn't put up a farce of dealing with them when I was already in such a bad mood. With my luck I'd do more magic accidentally and blow Vernon over to Scotland."

"Honestly, at some point it'd be worth it," James grumbled, still infuriated Harry could be in a house full of people and not one of them were concerned Harry was keeping himself so isolated. How he could keep hearing this over and over and still feel that anger fresh every time couldn't be normal.

Lily still had the urge to curse the answer out of that stranger, frustrated beyond belief that they honestly might not get an answer for that as Petunia seemed to hate giving Harry a piece of bread, let alone information.

The room collectively groaned in frustration, they'd always hated hearing of time at the Dursleys, and it still somehow got worse every time. Now it was starting to feel like he wasn't getting any other options. The Burrow better have had a house fire or something for Harry not to have been invited there long ago. Even if they didn't know the extent of the problems at the Dursleys, it had been made clear they at least had suspicions, so there wasn't any excuse in their opinion for this continuing!

"You're not going to be expelled," Lily said at once with absolute confidence. "They just can't, the laws on your side, you've done nothing wrong."

Harry gave her a grateful smile as he envisioned her in that old courtroom, throwing the book at Fudge rather than himself for instigating all of this, then he blinked the vision away and wondered why that place still felt so foreboding to him. It helped that he truly did feel comforted by her words, so he let it go.

"I'd never let that happen," Sirius snarled at once. "You'd live in a cave with me and Buckbeak first." Sirius didn't exactly sound enthused at the idea, it hurt him he couldn't actually provide anything of use for his godson but company, but that didn't change his point.

Sirius relaxed back at once, nodding eagerly and saying, "don't know why you'd bother asking, Merlin I'm still ticked it hasn't happened already."

Harry just smiled at him, but it still felt more forced than he'd ever like. He still longed for something, anything in him to confirm this could happen one day, not this nasty ache inside.

"The Ministry does not rightly care where you live once you're no longer in school," James snorted in disgust. "You could live anywhere you wanted, even in an 'empty' house." He knew Harry wouldn't really be alone, Sirius would be there with him of course, not that anyone in the Ministry would know that.

They all grumbled in furious dispute of that, but for once Remus shivered harder than Sirius at the thought. It was more because of self loathing though. Even at his lowest, Remus still never crossed Harry's mind as anything? His life kept feeling more useless the more pages that were turned, wondering what the point of his even living past James and Lily if he couldn't be of any help to anyone.

"Thank you Harry, I needed something to envision to punch," James scowled.

"And they are telling you, because?" Lily demanded.

"To rub in I wasn't going I suppose," he shrugged without care.

All of them still felt their lips curling in disgust as Vernon continued to treat Harry like that while he'd lived there, in the loosest term of the way.

"I wouldn't even want to eat that food," Sirius stated, "I'd put it in the bin for the local strays."

James buried his face in his hands in pure frustration, both at Vernon actually doing that, and Harry's complete lack of care it being done. He had felt lethargic before, emotionally drained even, but never so much he would not kick down any door that he was locked in. He'd tried it now, even without success. What state did you have to be in to not care about this?

"I really don't get that," Lily sneered, "you've honestly never been that much of a problem to them, and yet they treat you like you're constantly on the verge of burning down that house."

Harry just shrugged without comment, he always knew Vernon saw exactly what he expected to see in Harry no matter how he acted.

"He hadn't locked me in there until that point," Harry amended, making James laugh at least as Harry truly seemed to be striving not to let himself be caught in a lie to him again.

"I'm fine," Harry insisted to those around him who had grown increasingly pale the longer Harry was left like this. "Sure I don't enjoy remembering how upset I was, but I promise I'm fine now."

They smiled grimly at him, but still that worry lingered of where his friends and more importantly Sirius were, why was Harry being left like this for so long?

Harry watched those around him tense at once with concern, that fear from the first chapter of some Death Eater ambush was clearly still on their mind, but Harry had an indulgent smile in place. He couldn't think why right now, but there was absolutely no ill will towards that noise even as the ghost of adrenaline pumped through him for his reaction at the time. He didn't think he did a good job of soothing the others, as everyone still had one hand near their pocket while Remus forced himself to keep going.

"While normally I'd actually enjoy the fun of that," Sirius gave a forced smile as he imagined some Muggle laughing while Sirius pulled his wand on them and then cursing whatever idiot thought he could steal their stuff, "now isn't a good time for anything to be in that place that shouldn't be."

"Anything?" Harry persisted innocently, causing all of them to take a step back and really asses that Harry was almost smiling for the first time since they'd started this book. If truly he felt no fear for this moment even as he rubbed at his temple to understand why, than that must mean that someone really had finally come for him to get him out of there.

They didn't get to bask long in their happy moment as baby Harry began crying upstairs, and Lily hopped out of James' lap to go fetch him. She came back down the stairs wiping angry tears out of his little eyes, clearly he did not appreciate having been put up so early. James quickly moved with her when he saw she was going to sit back in the other couch, an arms reach from Harry, and the three settled comfortably there while Remus kept going.

"You really are quick on the uptake," Remus complemented Harry's logic.

James still felt a spot of agitation Harry was locked in there, with no way to escape other than a two story drop, unless those bars had been put back up in his absence in which case his son was truly pinned down with no way out. Even if he wasn't in danger, that was still terrible for many different reasons.

"Did you do that?" Remus yelped, thinking Dumbledore might not be able to stop the Ministry a second time if Harry was doing more magic, even by accident.

"No," Harry said at once, he really hadn't quite gotten up to accidental magical levels.

"Then what on earth did unlock that?" James demanded with his eyes narrowed.

Harry felt something nagging at the edge of his consciousness, like he might have worked that out for himself later, but for now he just shrugged and crossed his fingers like everyone else another Ministry owl wouldn't be arriving.

That only made them start to feel edgy all over again. For a moment James had wondered if it had been the Weasley twins picking the lock on Harry's door again, but then it would have swung open to reveal them. This was blatant magic and someone hiding, not a good combination for his boy. If Harry wasn't all at ease he knew he'd be crawling out of his skin right now.

"More space to move," Sirius nodded absently while Harry gave him a nudge, trying to get them to all stop giving him tactical advice already.

"That's always a pleasant thing to see in the dark," Lily shivered as she pulled her baby closer into her lap. Even if every one of the Weasley's had arrived to get Harry out, which was rather odd in itself, she had no idea what was up with the surprise. Ron or someone should have thought to turn on a light by now.

Harry's eyes flipped wide in surprise as he finally identified someone, "that's Professor Moody."

"I can't say that made me feel better," James jumped in surprise even as he smiled, "considering your last encounter with him."

"I guess they sent members of the Order rather than Weasley's," Sirius suddenly bounced with excitement, wondering what was taking him so long to run up the stairs and tackle his godson with a hug.

"You're getting more encouraging by the minute," Lily said approvingly this time, she hoped someone really was regularly taking Moody's hip flask away from him now for more than an hour. She didn't care if it sounded paranoid, she honestly wasn't sure if she could ever trust him fully again after his face had nearly murdered her son.

"Well he's got a point," Sirius shrugged, feeling all at ease now and still forcing himself not to take the book away from Moony to get to his reappearance already.

Remus would have honestly let him if Sirius asked, considering he was already ticked at himself for not being there, again.

"Something Moody would honestly be proud of," James chuckled.

"Just think for a moment if you had no idea what that meant," Lily shook her head in exasperation, "can you imagine how confusing that would be."

"Well then it's a good thing we got backstory," James rolled his eyes at her.

This voice was even easier to recognize than the other as Harry yelped, "Remus!"

Remus jumped at first in confusion, then surprise as he eyed Harry, then the book like he was sure someone was lying. Then his face cracked into the widest smile in days as he demanded, "really?"

"Yep," Harry beamed.

Remus still sat there looking dumbstruck for a second before Sirius smacked him on the back, still bouncing around like he was sitting on a spring, "well I'm not surprised. Bout time Moony's made his reappearance, I'm sure you've been busy and you're dying to tell Harry what you've been up to." He seemed utterly confident of this, that Sirius himself had dragged Remus along so that the three of them could have a chat while the rest of the Order did whatever to get Harry out of there.

James and Lily exchanged delighted looks. James was ready to burst with happiness Remus was back at all, he couldn't deny he'd been just as worried about him as Sirius, it wasn't natural to hear about one without the other in his opinion. Lily was just as relieved, she honestly worried herself now about how Remus took care of himself when he wasn't here, and thirteen years of solitude before he got Sirius back clearly hadn't been good for him. They both deeply wanted to know what he'd been up to, both before and after he'd made the stupid decision to leave school.

Remus was in such a good mood it was almost passable as he hid a wince. 'It's your own fault,' he mentally scolded himself, 'you haven't given him a reason to call you anything else.' Yet the contrast to Harry sitting next to him leisurely and Harry still at fifteen only calling him a title stung like he wouldn't have believed.

"Is she mad!" Lily balked. "He's in trouble because he's done magic, now she's being utterly blatant."

Harry still managed an indifferent shrug as his smile kept widening at this new voice, there was something in the tone promising he liked this person.

Harry was in such a good mood, he hardly even rolled his eyes at being on display like this.

Remus kept reading loudly past anyone who was trying to make a comment about that.

"Explains the idiocy," Lily rolled her eyes at the idea of the Order sending some child to fetch her son.

"Well I like her," Sirius said at once with a chuckle at that description, "any girl who can get away with that hair shade gets points with me."

Sirius' face suddenly fell though as he realized he hadn't been mentioned next to Harry or Remus, which clearly meant he wasn't there at all.

Remus too realized this and turned curious eyes on him, but Sirius managed to wave the moment off, his eyes only just a bit tighter but his smile hadn't even dimmed. "Nah, probably had to do something just before this got started," he broke off without coming up with a good reason why he wouldn't come see his godson the second he could with this group, but still waved Remus on to get to that part already.

James and Lily still managed to exchange a proud smile for how their boy had turned out.

"Can't even blame him for that one," James frowned sadly at the thought of what his idol had been through.

"That really is one of the easiest tells," James agreed fondly, a smile lighting right back up as he always enjoyed being reminded of that.

Everyone full blown cracked up laughing at the imagery, even if they would have given the same warning.

Causing further giggles to erupt the girl had asked!

"Now I definitely like her," Remus chuckled in agreement with Sirius. "She's got some spunk doing that to him."

Remus rolled his eyes at himself, it had been long enough since he'd seen him.

"Maybe it was," James grumped, "and you just weren't in on it."

"That didn't make me feel better," Harry pointed out with a sigh.

"Not like that actually makes a difference," Lily pointed out.

"Oh are they though?" Sirius leered, thinking of the timing of this.

Everyone burst out laughing again, even Lily let her original ire melt a bit at the girl doing this to the Dursley's. She was already made clear she was good for a laugh, and they were all eager to find out who she was already.

"Afraid of his reaction when he comes home?" James demanded, smile dropping at once.

"It certainly wouldn't be fun to be around," Harry shrugged with indifference. He'd always been yelled at for anything going wrong, and some prank would most certainly fall under that. Still he was quick to reassure their worries he wouldn't have done much, just shouted at him to get his frustrations out. For some reason that didn't make them feel entirely better.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," Lily sneered, she'd always hated people eyeballing her son, and these were supposed to be adults!

"Is that why I haven't been out of there before now?" Harry asked, thinking that really could have been put in a letter to at least appease him.

"Don't know," Sirius shrugged, "we move our headquarters all the time to stay undetected, but those places are usually flimsy at best and even more a meeting place than an outright Headquarters."

"Sounds like the Order got an upgrade," James agreed, a funny feeling buzzing in him he wasn't, would never be again, apart of it.

Lily had to fight the urge to demand someone take that away from him.

"I wonder how far away that thing can see," James asked as he pictured the sky above him and all the stars.

"I never asked," Harry answered.

"I'd imagine not too great a distance," Lily shrugged, "but who knows, maybe he can see all the way to Australia."

"Do I not know you've met?" Remus demanded, already feeling a rising sense of anger at every little thing he did.

"Don't know," Harry shrugged as he didn't seem too concerned with it.

Sirius had to work hard for a moment before saying, "I'm sure I've kept you up to speed, with everything I know at least. You're probably just going to introduce everyone, just for clarification to him." Then for a split second, Sirius wasn't even sure if that was true. He'd claimed to have forgiven Remus in the Shrieking Shack, but not once afterwards had Sirius made mention of his oldest, and now only friend. Had he really forgiven Remus? He viciously kicked the thought away to not be lingered on. Didn't matter, he was still his Moony now.

"That is fair," James agreed absently as he watched the two, clearly something was bubbling between them, and while James got Remus' problem, he wasn't sure what was suddenly bothering Sirius.

Sirius was instantly distracted by something snatching at his mind before he yelped, "oh," in surprise.

"You know her?" Lily demanded.

"I think my cousin Andromeda has a daughter she named Nymphadora. We keep in loose contact since she's the only living member of my family I can stand." Sirius offered with a look of concentration. "Hold on, what's her surname?" He directed at Remus in hopes he'd finish. True it wasn't exactly a common name, but he'd still rather be sure.

"Yeah, Tonks, that's right, that's the Muggle-born she married named Ted's surname. She sent me a letter about it when the little bloom was born, but that was already what, seven years ago now. Only saw her twice when she was just a baby. Kept meaning to go around and visit her more." He finished with a triumphant little smile that wavered just a bit as he added, "glory, she's as grown up as Harry and I never even meet her."

Remus' frown turned sharp as he turned on Sirius, fixing to tell him off that wasn't happening and he could go see her whenever he wanted, but James cut in with a lighter joke instead. "Well Remus is clearly still some fun, he could have introduced her the way she wanted, but oh no, he just went for the full name, clearly to annoy her."

Remus chuckled but didn't deny he could see himself picking on her already if she'd return in kind which seemed obvious.

Harry had an odd smile in place as he watched Remus for a moment, one that Lily thought she'd seen when he heard of Ron and Hermione's argument back during the Yule Ball. Harry could feel it in his mind, like two bits of metal being struck together and waiting for something to spark, but the memory refused to solidify any further and he mostly ignored it for now.

Sirius started snickering at the idea of this girl, it was clear she'd inherited her mother's spirit already, he knew he was going to like her.

Harry blinked curiously at the name, sure for just a moment he might know him more than just a passing person like his mind was telling him. Something about Dumbledore...

"Squealing every time you meet him isn't technically meeting him," Lily rolled her eyes even as she did smile a bit, she'd always liked him and he always asked to hold her son at least once every time they met.

Lily actually whooped with excitement to hear she'd lived long enough to see her neice be born, a topic she wouldn't stop discussing when they met up.

James felt himself sitting back in relief as well, Sturgis had been in an undercover mission for the past two weeks and hadn't been at his last check in, they were already starting to wonder if he was another lost soul. Clearly he would make it back though.

They were equal amounts as surprised as they were pleased that they only didn't know three names, Kingsley, Hestia, and Tonks. It was a good thing they supposed, that Dumbledore still had so many trustworthy people, but something about it seemed blackened as they heard these names. That Lily and James couldn't be a part of this, nor so many others. They'd heard of so many deaths and disturbing things happening to the ranks, and now they knew the source of who was behind it for those dwindling numbers, and it hurt.

"You already have that look written all over your face," Remus had that same twitching mouth now, Harry noticed, giving him the odd impression of seeing double again at the man in the room double layered with him fourteen years older and much more weathered. Still, it was honestly fun for him to see the Professor he knew acting like someone he had been seeing as an Uncle lately act the same.

"Honestly, I think I prefer him calling you that," James said conversationally, as Remus still twitched uneasily every time he realized Harry was going to keep calling him by his last name only. "Makes it a tad less confusing than you referring to yourself."

"Sirius gets through it just fine," he muttered petulantly while reading even louder over Harry trying to say something. Either apologize or something else, Remus found it his own fault Harry was doing it so his problem to deal with.

"She clearly hasn't met many Muggles then to not have realized that," Lily said a bit grimly as she still hated the idea of that house. To shake that off she directed at Sirius, "you should bring Andromeda around Sirius, if you like her so much."

"I keep meaning to bridge the gap," Sirius shrugged, "but I just keep forgetting and then getting busy. I know you want Harry to be around more kids though, so I promise I'll get on it," 'if we ever get out of here,' he finished mentally but it went unsaid.

Lily snorted in surprise even as her maternal voice didn't quite kick into the scolding, "bit rude to dismiss her?" She couldn't even blame him though, she'd be a bit short with someone gaping at her as well, but at least this Tonks was trying to make conversation.

"He's kind of the only one I trust at the moment, and finally someone to talk to," Harry shrugged, at least seeming to make Remus better for just a second.

"They all hate hearing the name that much huh?" Harry chuckled at what he saw as an overreaction.

"I think they're just being a little paranoid," Remus shrugged, "we don't usually discuss those types of things in places we consider unsafe, it's not out of the range of possibilities we could be watched."

"Are you going to get that smirk every time you say something that turns out to be true," Sirius rolled his eyes at Remus who kept flipping back and forth so much lately he was giving them a coronary. Moony was known to be moody even a few days after a full moon but this was getting ridiculous.

"Have I ever not?" Remus asked innocently enough.

"Thank you for the reminder," Lily squidged up her face in disgust at the idea.

Which turned into a full blown grimace of disgust while the boys honestly looked intrigued at the idea.

"My sentiments," Lily shook her head while Remus snickered at someone saying that to Moody's face.

"Past that," the others muttered, not even blaming Harry if he snapped and told them to knock it off soon.

"Can he see out of that when it's not in his head?" Sirius requested.

"Never asked," Harry shrugged, again. He was always far too afraid of Moody to ask him for anything, and that detail had hardly changed after the near murder experince.

"I'd imagine no," Lily pointed out, "the magic would have to be attached to something for him to be able to see out of it, not strictly attached to the nerve."

"More importantly," James' grin had turned scary, "please tell me you don't bother putting that up before you leave, I want to hear that one of the Dursleys took a drink out of it."

"I don't stick around to find out," Harry chuckled, having no clear memory of doing anything with it after this, so maybe James got his wish.

Harry got a bad feeling at the idea, of a group of Wizards traveling with him from the Dursley's house including Remus, Tonks, Moody- his brain suddenly fizzled out and he just settled for reassuring his mum that everything would be fine even if he didn't feel it at the moment.

"Well someone's been bragging," James chuckled.

"I'm sure I'd never exaggerate," Remus grinned.

"Then someone should have sent him a letter for warning," Sirius rolled his eyes at himself, thinking he definitely could have phrased that to give Harry some forewarning, and still annoyed at himself for not being there.

"It's not a home unless it's lived in," Lily smiled in agreement, eyeing some of the baby things she had scattered around and a few heavy treads in the carpet that had honestly been there before these readings, the boys had just made them more obvious.

"There is no correct answer for that," Sirius said at once while James rolled his eyes and corrected, "you tell her she looks nice and then take the fallout even if she disagrees."

Lily pouted at him, fixing to protest she never told him off when he did that for her, but Remus was ignoring the lot of them.

"Ha!" Sirius barked while James rolled his eyes.

"Wow," all five of them uttered in surprise, though for two different reason.

"How did she do that?" Harry yelped in surprise at the same time Remus said, "you didn't say she was a metamorphmagus."

"I didn't know," Sirius had a full blown smirk in place, "guess Andromeda was saving it as a surprise till I came to see the little nymph in person. Guess that got spoiled."

"What is it?" Harry persisted curiously.

"A born magical ability, to change your appearance at will," James explained. "Very, very rare, only passed down through magical bloodlines and often skips a few of those."

"I bet Cygnus and Druella are pissed," Sirius had a nasty smile in place as he imagined their faces. "They disowned Dromeda when she married Ted the muggle-born, now their granddaughters got this rare gift they can't even claim credit for."

Harry was fascinated by the idea, though there was something trying to snatch up his attention in the back of his mind as his eyes casually flickered to Remus, then his own infant self in a redhead's arms- his brain felt like it had been sucker punched already and was thankful Remus was moving on.

"I think I'm falling in love with this one," Remus said dramatically as he outright laughed now. "Glory Sirius, she's reminding me of a female version of you."

"Keep dreaming Moony," Sirius rolled his eyes even while he smiled proudly at that little toddler growing up to do something so spectacular.

His parents and Harry snickered at the pair, Harry hardest of all.

"Adds to her personality," James grinned, he'd applaud the girl in person for wrecking anything of the Dursleys.

"This is certainly distracting enough," Lily smiled sadly for her boy, "but no, it's not something you learn, everybody else still has to use potions and magic to change their appearance."

"Least she took longer than most," Harry sighed as he flattened his bangs.

"Look at you distracting her," Sirius grinned at his little pup already swooning the ladies.

Harry rolled his eyes at the tone.

Lily couldn't help frowning again though, there she was again using magic at her discretion with no regards to being in that Muggle house and Harry being in a heap of trouble. She hoped he offered a really good explanation when he remembered it.

Harry raised an impressed brow as he said, "now why hasn't that spell been taught already?" He may not have ever been allowed to use it at his house, but it would have made packing at the Weasley's better.

"Some spells they actually don't teach you during school," Lily shrugged, "that's a widely used charm that just passed from word of mouth. Molly's probably never done it for you because she's clearly the kind who thinks it's good of you not to get spoiled."

"I think that's just a mother's gift," James grinned in agreement, "Lily's always been nifty at Charms so it didn't surprise me she does that, but my mum's the same way."

Causing more giggles and Lily an affectionate, "oh well, I'm sure she'll get there."

Sirius' grin turned pompous at once. The treasured object hadn't even been used in Harry's last year except for one time Sirius would have rather done without hearing. At least now it was earning some more proper attention.

"I'm going to take a pin to your head," Lily threatened Sirius, more for James benefit than anything as she caught him rolling his eyes over something he'd normally be squealing and agreeing with.

Sirius just stuck his tongue out at her without further comment.

Harry theatrically wiggled his butt in his seat while the others around him giggled at the reminder of that.

The potato peeler at least James recognized as his wife owned one, she was prone to cook like a muggle even still and he found it fascinating to watch. He had no clue as to a microwave though, and was more than interested at Lily's quick whispered response.

"That had better explode in someone's face with lasting damage, or I am officially taking away your Marauders card," Sirius declared.

Remus contemplated pushing his friend off his seat in hopes he'd hit his head and knock some sense into him, but this had never worked in the past, so he elected to ignore him instead.

"They won't," Harry rolled his eyes at the same time Remus finished sadly.

Remus wished he could laugh like Harry did, he just couldn't bring himself to find that funny because it was true.

"No, I mean it, ask about this," Lily huffed under her breath, long since giving up the hope anyone would, but unable to stop the words coming.

Remus winced in annoyance because he agreed with her, he wished he didn't think this was a joke.

"I think I had a Padfoot flashback," Remus told those around him as he gazed down at his depressing response. "Sirius made that comment all the time before he got off the train."

"Yeah, I suppose," James grumbled, still wanting to whack Remus over the head for taking it as a joke instead of really asking what Harry meant. Sirius had never meant it as a joke either though, and they'd never badgered him for details until far too late either.

"Wouldn't he know about that anyways?" James asked in surprise. "If I left it to Dumbledore, surely the whole Order will be using it here soon."

"Maybe Dumbledore never told where he got it from," Lily shrugged.

"That's so cool," Harry's eyes lit up childishly pleased at the idea of this.

"Not as cool as the cloak," James swiftly reminded, "it wears off, and it's still easy enough to detect someone under that if you're looking."

"Quit being all paranoid over there dad," Sirius pouted at him, "let the kid enjoy the moment."

Harry suddenly flashed concerned eyes to Remus, who just chuckled as he kept going while Sirius told Harry Moody was just exaggerating, if Death Eaters hadn't attacked yet it should be fine.

"Well he's just a right comfort," James snorted even as he did watch Remus just a little more closely.

Harry opened and closed his mouth a few times as he had no clue how he was supposed to respond to that, let alone point out he had no clue which direction was east.

"But I sure hope they're taking you to see me," Sirius cackled while everyone else was still giggling over Tonks' comment, so Sirius got to delude himself for a moment everyone was laughing at his wit.

"I really wish he'd stop mentioning that though," Harry murmured, not particularly comforted that Mad-Eye saying this put him ill at ease for this plan, but he was having a problem looking around the room and not meeting anyone's eye. He was being ridiculous of course though.

"Moody wasn't kidding about that second group," James raised a curious brow at the complexity of this plan, though he was still convinced it wasn't all necessary, there would be no attack, Harry and Remus and everyone was going to be fine. Voldemort wouldn't be stupid enough to attack Harry up in the air like that surrounded by so many people, he clearly prefered sneak attacks and getting Harry alone so his son and friend would be safe.

"Brooms have been known to develop a bit of a personality as well as any magical object," Lily agreed with a small smile for Harry's suddenly beaming face he was finally being free of that place.

Harry could finally feel some of the tension leaving his body as he relaxed back into his seat since this book had started. The memory of flying left him aching to go try it now, and he clearly wasn't the only one both finally grinning in relief from the release of that place and a want of their own.

Remus had never been much of a flier, but even he was starting to feel restless and wanting to go have some fun out in the air now. He'd had to learn while he'd stayed a few times at the Potters, James would have nothing less, and he was suddenly more grateful than he ever had been before for those lessons.

Everyone else was already doing the same, all of their fears even temporarily being lifted felt like a haven at the thought of Harry finally enjoying himself.

Lily smiled warmly as she wrapped a blanket around her little Hare Bare for just a moment, more than happy he was away from that place that caused him so much misery, but wishing he'd put a jacket on first.

"He really wants to pass through a cloud at that altitude?" Remus arched a brow and shivered at the thought.

"Here's hoping Tonks isn't the only one who'll tell him what she thinks," Sirius agreed.

"Or she can still do it," James chuckled.

Harry saw his mum twitch at the thought, so he gave an exaggerated stretch and nestled into his cushion with content, causing her to smile again.

"Thanks, I really wanted to be reminded of that," James shivered, he hadn't thought he could feel lower than that time had caused him.

"How far away is this headquarters?" Sirius muttered, trying to map out in his head how fast Harry could go on a broom and the directions they'd been given.

"Thought that was one of your least favorite ones," James kept things light by giving his glasses a nudge in reminder.

"You'll want the thing you don't have at the time when you're dealing with the bad," Remus reminded without looking up, causing James to roll his eyes at him.

Lily still couldn't help an uneasy twitch as she realized how on guard they all were, a good thing for sure, but still worried at the necessity of so many coming to get Harry. Was there really a danger, or had Remus really just been playing off the moment?

"I really hope you get to know her quite well while you're hanging around the Order," Sirius' grin kept widening when he heard this. "I can already tell she's going to be fun to have around."

"Anyone who can holler at Moody like that will be of high entertainment," Remus agreed.

"Don't worry, there's a charm for that," but Lily grinned in a way Harry honestly wasn't sure if she was kidding that time.

Sirius may have been trying to follow Moody's directions, but he still wasn't sure if he was picking the right area Harry was in, as Moody could have been going some roundabout way and Harry may not have even caught it all. The curiosity was high all around of where this new headquarters was, wondering if it was so good they could suggest it to the Order now with one glaring exception.

"Look, Dumbledore's thing is back," James beamed.

"Here's hoping we'll get a better explanation of it," Sirius agreed, he still wanted to know how to get his hands on one.

"This place sounds like a dump," Sirius smirked as James finished for him, "perfect cover."

"Err," they all muttered in confusion at something so random happening just as Harry got there.

"Familiar from where?" Remus asked.

Harry had to think hard for a moment, he'd recognized it at the time but hadn't thought much of it, but now his eyes blinked as he grasped, "it was the same writing that had first given me my cloak. That's Dumbledore's handwriting."

Lily frowned in confusion of why Harry was being passed a message from him now right as they were about to enter and more likely see the man.

Sirius at first laughed. Then he did a double take as he realized Remus wasn't joining in, then he turned popping eyes to James who held the same look of shock confirming he had heard that right! Then a million things toppled through him so fast he hadn't a second to process a thing as Harry asked, "what?"

"My brother's dead," Sirius answered simply, gazing at nothing.

HPHP

* All the moments where magic was blatantly used always bothered me, it's just never explained and it annoys me. I'll explain it in the next chapter and say how that plot hole could have been fixed, just thought I'd let you guys know now.


	4. NUMBER TWELVE, GRIMMAULD PLACE

To DiamondGoddess: Harry got into trouble in his second year because Dobby used magic in his house. That leads me to believe that the rules stating Harry isn't allowed to use magic isn't especially known as Harry doing magic, but magic being done in his house. The Ministry should have been aware and sent him more mail about more magic being done in his house, but it's never brought up again, so I'll have to do it for the book. Wizards are indeed expected to use magic whenever they want of course, and if they'd done it in the house over then it wouldn't have been any problem at all. Hope that makes sense, thanks for the review!

To Payton: I plan on dropping more backstory between Sirius and Andromeda as the story goes on, but I didn't want to dump it all at once.

To everyone asking, Harry is physically twenty, but yes emotionally he's fifteen right now.

Thank you to everyone who pointed out I did indeed get Tonks' original age wrong, I really need to go back and triple check my math before I post.

HPHPHPHPHPHP

"I'm sorry," Harry said at once, dying to know the name of this brother as he felt entirely sure he'd heard of for some strange reason. It was odd though, as he was confident he'd never even met another Black besides his godfather, but there was something he was missing in that connection-

This was clearly the wrong response though, as Sirius snorted softly and shook his head, waving the apology off and muttering, "nah, just surprised me a bit. We were only close before I started school, then I think we never had more than one proper conversation." His face twitched for a moment as 'conversation' was not the right word to describe his last real meeting with his brother.

Quickly forcing himself to stay on track he smirked, "Thinking about making a toast my deranged parents have finally gone beyond the veil though. Just, you know, thought my brother really was smarter than what I knew he was going to do." Really, the blow wasn't hitting anywhere close to him finding out he was going to lose James. It wasn't even that hard to imagine, as Sirius had told Regulus this was his fate when he went to join Voldemort's crue. Still, the thought wouldn't quite hit the smug feeling he thought he'd have at being right. He'd said a lot of harsh things to Regulus during their last meeting, and he had in return. Now there was a highly likely chance they'd never even make up for it.

What he was really left wondering was how soon until it happened? Had someone in the Order already done him in without even realizing it? They didn't always take off those Death Eater masks when they did a body count as more often than not they were in a hurry after those kinds of fights happened.

Remus wouldn't let him linger on the thought long though, an odd twisted smile in place as he said, "I'm trying to figure out how this even came about? The last place on earth you'd have a poke around after you got out was this place to even realize you were now the only heir."

Sirius could only shrug for that, almost wishing Remus was joking, but even now he couldn't imagine the point in looking up where his Death Eater of a brother was staying, Sirius couldn't imagine he'd have bothered looking him up after twelve years in Azkaban.

James was watching Sirius' face become steadily more drawn with confusion as he kept thinking about this, so he butted in saying, "no offense Sirius, but I still can't imagine why the Order wound up there. Last I heard, you weren't even in line to posses such a treasured object as the Black house." The way he said treasured object made it sound like a bomb about to go off.

"I've no clue," Sirius shrugged. "She may have disowned me and blasted me from that stupid wall, but maybe the blood magic binding that house never left, or she couldn't figure out how to erase me from it." Then his eyes brightened as he truly grasped what he was saying, and he full out laughed. "Merlin's Holy Socks, that place is the Order of the Phoenix's Headquarters! Oh this is brilliant! That woman's surely having fits in her grave!" He dissolved into insane giggling that James quickly joined in on.

Remus passed Lily the book and Lily quickly gave her child to James as she went to start, trying to ignore the boys while Remus still had an unfocused gaze. Sirius may enjoy the irony for now, but he'd seen his friend the last time he'd been at that place, and he wasn't looking forward to hearing how Sirius was going to be acting inside that house. He found it funny from the outside, where the description had fallen so far none of them would have even guessed it as the same grandeur place of Sirius' childhood home, but even knowing what it's usages were, he was sure old Padfoot was trying to spend more time out of that place than in it. He probably wasn't even there now when Harry arrived, or maybe he would brave those dank walls again to see his Godson. It was an honest coin toss.

"Which reminds me," Lily butted in before they could go too far into the story and she could question this now after Sirius had gotten over his shock. "What even was the point of Dumbledore writing you that note just as you were outside the house? Surely if he wanted you to know the address they'd have just given it to you at the Dursleys. What's the point of the note at all?"

"Hope I ask Dumbledore," was all Harry could say.

Sirius blinked in confusion as he again recalled such a disgusting neighborhood that seemed to have fallen well out of shape from his time there. Surely that had all happened after everyone was dead, but what on earth was happening to make the house completely not there? There was already a ton of enchantments set in place so that no one could enter unless they were invited in, how much more had Dumbledore done to the place to make it safe?

"What in the world?" Remus demanded as he studied the book like it too would suddenly grow its own house.

"That sounds like the Fidelius Charm,"* Lily wrinkled up her own brow as she tried to understand this magic she'd never seen used. Her hand automatically sought out her husbands and they held tight to each other for a moment as they remembered all that spell would lead to for them.

Sirius' face had screwed up with the force of his trying not to automatically start screaming and shouting at the mention of that Charm again, what he'd lead his best friend into all because of his mistake. He couldn't fathom a second how he'd ever worked out that rat was in any way an better option than Remus or even himself, this is what he got for trying to be clever with some decoy, his friends death. Merlin they should have just used Harry since he couldn't have given the location to anyone!

Remus gave Sirius' shoulder a sympathetic squeeze, whispering some words of comfort, but still waiting for Sirius' terse nod before waving Lily to continue.

Sirius was now in far less of a good mood as he imagined going back into that house for even a second, not even the thought of his old hag of a mother's angry face could make this amusing anymore and now he hoped he'd just spot Harry coming in and drag him right back out for some quality time.

"You guys were starting to freak me out." Harry hadn't meant that to come out as a whisper, but the mention of that charm had seemed to sap all life from the room and he couldn't think of anything better to say.

"That's sound advice though," Sirius ground out for Remus. "That place is a walking death trap if you don't know what you're doing." It wasn't even entirely the house's previous occupants, there were a lot of objects in that place even Sirius had never fiddled with too much after he'd once seen Regulus stick his nose into a box and come back out with it almost scale covered. His mother had fixed him right and then scolded Sirius for letting his brother play in that room.

Sirius couldn't help it, his original good mood on the subject had vanished, and the more he thought about it the more he realized he didn't care of how much good use it was being used for, he really didn't think it was worth it just for all the memories that were sweeping him he'd thought he'd repressed because of this place.

Harry was watching Sirius growing more and more agitated as this carried on, and Harry was starting to feel the same way. Harry could just feel the emptiness and hatred pouring out of the walls of that house and something of thinking about Sirius in there cut him deep, which was odd when he blinked again and felt like he'd grown used to the old building...

"Why are they still whispering when they're inside?" Lily asked in confusion, her own voice sounding a little loud in the suddenly eerie quiet of this room, but she wanted to at least try and keep some level of normal about them.

Sirius wasn't helping, for once he seemed to have no need to voice his opinion about anything as he just shrugged and kept his eyes on the fireplace instead of that book.

James watched a smile creep back across Padfoot's face, but it was a twisted looking thing full of mocking hatred that his mother's precious house had clearly fallen into such disrepair.

Harry at first felt a smile flash across him at her reappearance again, then he blinked and all of those feelings he'd felt over that summer began simmering just under the surface as he muttered, "so Ron's really there, right at Headquarters."

Remus gave Harry an uneasy look for that tone, but had no real response for him. He wanted to say more than likely that their kids were all old enough to be home alone at the Burrow, but even that wouldn't have felt like much comfort to Harry as he could have just as easily been there with them as well.

Lily sighed in sympathy, she knew she often looked just as strained after Order meetings.

"He always looks peaky after he leaves that place," James grumbled.

"Finally," Sirius muttered, "I'll consider this whole place worth a visit if you go give Dumbledore a good telling off for your summer."

Harry made some frustrated little noise both in agreement, and depressed that he wasn't even a little convinced this happened.

"Hey," they all suddenly pouted. Harry'd been left with nothing for a month, how long was he going to keep being held back?

"You mean Harry isn't automatically one?" Sirius began glaring at once. "I mean, he's kind of the whole reason the Order exists again, I think that automatically qualifies you."

Lily watched the boys around her automatically agree, but suddenly some of her protesting dimmed as she glanced down at her infant. She of course would be going crazy not knowing what was going on, she certainly was during school with no way to help. That didn't mean she wanted to toss her son into this though, she was fighting now so her little infant never would have to. She couldn't claim she was really against him sitting in on this either, but she just wished he didn't have to.

"I meant why can't I come, but that's odd too," Harry rolled his eyes.

"So he's going to stay there the rest of the summer?" Lily blinked in confusion, not really wanting to imagine her son sleeping in that place, couldn't he just Floo to the Burrow from there?

Her question was drowned out by Sirius' louder one though.

"Why is Molly even the one doing this at all?" If Sirius' face got any more sour, he'd have that puckered expression made permanent. "I should be the one up there greeting my godson, and I'd let him down there. What's she think she's doing?" No meeting should be important enough it would stop him seeing Harry again.

Remus could only offer his original idea, "Maybe you're not even there, even now imagining trying to get you inside there would be a living nightmare. It would be easier to train a niffler."

Sirius just huffed and grumbled something as he didn't find this a better answer.

James blinked in confusion at that as he told, "I don't remember that." True he'd only been over once, but it had been vivid enough the place had lingered and that object hadn't.

Again, Sirius only shrugged without a trace of care.

Lily's face squished up in disgust as she glared at the book, trying to resist the impulse to turn the same look on Sirius as it's not like he'd been the one to do this, but suddenly she realized that Sirius may have taken something from his parents though he'd never claim to. If this was how they treated their old servants, than she suddenly wasn't as surprised if Sirius learned to treat them that same way.

"Well you've got that one right Harry," Sirius huffed.

"I missed hearing about this," Remus managed to find a smile again at the mention of Harry's friends.

"About time," Sirius seemed to be refusing any good mood right now.

"Well at least she admits it," James actually did get in a grin for this.

"I've missed hearing about Hermione like this," Lily grinned again for that little first year who'd babbled herself silly about books on their first train ride.

"And just where has she been?" James demanded with an eyeroll.

Sirius though narrowed his eyes as he insisted, "no, that's a good question, did someone there really lock up your owl and not let her back? Why! It wouldn't be that big of a difference just to allow Hedwig to come back so at least Harry-"

"Sirius," Lily cut in.

"What?" He barked back.

She met his scowl with a sad little frown before telling him, "it was wrong of them to keep Hedwig away, but I don't know what you're yelling at us for." She thought she did though, when she noticed his eyes tighten at the 'them.' He was clearly wanting to strangle someone for whoever kept messing with his godson, even himself as he clearly wasn't doing any good.

"Ouch," Lily winced in sympathy. She hadn't actually expected Hedwig to follow through on Harry's threat, but at least was relieved to see Harry looking just as repentant.

"She was almost right," Harry sighed, knowing if those dementors hadn't attacked he still wouldn't have lasted there much longer.

"So I'm guessing this won't be your next Patronus memory about them," Remus muttered uneasily as Lily flipped the page.

"Well I get that you're pissed at them," James cocked his head to the side, "but that was just a little cold. They explained themselves in the only way they could."

"Yeah," Harry grumbled, "that didn't make me feel better."

There were all starting to watch him in a way they hadn't before, but they'd never seen this bubbling anger before either. They'd only gotten a hint of it when he was arguing with Dudley, now they were all getting a bad feeling it might make a reappearance, maybe worse if that look on Harry's face was any indication.

"And everyone always does what Dumbledore thinks is best," Remus murmured as he watched Sirius already growing as angry as Harry, though still at himself for not having disobeying Dumbledore already and thinking his pup deserved far more than the Headmaster seemed to think.

"Harry!" Lily snapped at once.

Harry felt like he'd just been snapped between two worlds, the anger he remembered feeling so vividly at his friends suddenly drowned out by the sound of Lily's voice and now replaced with plenty of real shame for that nasty little comment.

"I really am sorry," he whispered, but it seemed more to himself than her as an aching stronger than ever reared up in him and he wished he had his friends here with him now instead of having no clue where, or even when, they were.

"They knew I was being followed!" Harry suddenly barked, then he groaned in misery as his emotions were leaving him feeling torn in half. At fifteen and angrier than he ever had been in his life at them, and now with a longing so deep it hurt more than he ever would have believed.

"Harry," Sirius sighed at his side. He forced himself to concentrate on his godson rather than his own equally foul mood and instructed, "take a deep breath pup, and just remember it all does work out for you. You'll get your grievances with Ron and Hermione out and then everything will be fine."

Harry struggled for a moment to get his lungs working normally again, but the confident tone to Sirius' voice truly did ease him back and he forced himself to concentrate on one mindset only, this time here and now, and push down the anger for his now absent friends. Then he gave Sirius a winning smile for the reminder.

Sirius returned the grin at once and waited until Harry looked away to throw a guilty look at James, knowing the father would have much prefered to have been able to do this, but then James surprised him by smiling right back with only the smallest bit of tightening around his eyes for having to watch. James had forced himself to come to terms at watching this for some time, and it honestly warmed him seeing Sirius was good at it.

Harry blinked in confusion as he remembered back to how Dumbledore had looked at the end of last year, both at the realization of what had been done to his friend and when he'd defended Harry from Fudge. At the time he'd been warmed beyond belief to see his headmaster come to his defense, now it wasn't computing with the same cold man who'd abandoned Harry all summer. What had he done so wrong to change his headmaster's opinion of him?

The others didn't notice Harry's burning silent questions, they were too busy shivering as they easily pictured their anger quantified to Dumbledore's levels over that instance.

"He, he wouldn't really," Remus tried to protest, as Dumbledore must know how miserable Harry was at that place, surely Sirius would have been vocally against that enough...but there just wasn't anything in him to say any of that was true. He could easily picture Dumbledore doing this if he thought that was what was safest, and if he was using that argument to keep Sirius quiet, well that could actually have worked.

"That's not what happened though," Lily tried to pacify for everyone around her, even herself, all going grim at the statement.

"Only because I did what I wasn't supposed to," Harry raised a brow at her, "that hardly makes it any better."

Lily made a disgruntled face at him for the tone but couldn't argue that point.

"Was that an attempt to change the subject?" James cocked his head to the side as he gazed at the book. "Hermione truly needs to read a book on how to do that."

Sirius made a noise of disgust, so quickly trying to find any excuse to put off what Harry could just feel pounding through him Harry asked, "what's that?"

"His name's Phineas Nigellus," Sirius rolled his eyes, "you might have spotted him in Dumbledore's office at some point, cause he was once a Headmaster of Hogwarts. There's also a portrait up of him in that house in one of the guest rooms."

Topic of the inside of that house hadn't seemed to make Sirius feel a lick better so Harry let it go, but he still wondered why he felt something significant about a painting of all things.

"Wouldn't make anyone feel better to feel looks behind your back," Lily sighed even as she was gazing wearily at the next page where she saw a lot of capitalized letters. She forced her eyes not to skip ahead and tried to pretend like she didn't know where this was going.

"A very real threat," Remus tried to say in hopes to keep the logic up front for them all, but clearly no one agreed as it shouldn't have even been needed.

Sirius wanted to snark that had been his point all along, or even messages shouldn't have been needed and Harry should have properly been with him, but further grumbling of that just wasn't going to do anyone any good.

"Now you know that's not it," Lily said at once.

"Sure felt like it," he grumbled back.

"I still don't see what that has to do with anything," James sighed. "He won't be sending you out on any missions that you're thinking of while you're still in school."

Harry sighed with frustration as his school was mentioned again, so many feelings for that place all jumbled into one a migraine was already threatening to break again.

Ironically they might have agreed, fifteen was too young to be dealing with anything involving Voldemort. They hadn't really even known there was anything to do against him until they'd left school, and hadn't started questioning it until their sixth year. Problem was, Harry would be involved, and so would his friends by default. It was just sad all around to realize both how young they were, and how it couldn't be avoided.

Lily sighed as she looked at what Harry was fixing to belt out, but she just couldn't bring herself to shout that all out. She couldn't even bring herself to raise her voice that much, she knew the others already grasped what level Harry was at by the boys sheepish look at all the feelings pouring out of him at once on his friends.

"Harry," Lily groaned as she rubbed at her temple, letting the book dip slightly so she could eye him better.

"I know," Harry mumbled without being able to meet her eyes. First his dad, now his mum, he just kept disappointing everyone lately.

She kept staring at him though until he looked up and met her eyes while she told, "it's not as if I can blame you for your temper snapping, no one can control that, I just wish you weren't taking it out on the ones who don't deserve it."

Harry gave her a bleak smile as he still forced himself to concentrate on his every breath, on Sirius at his side shaking his head at Harry's display even while he wanted to do a bit of shouting of his own, to absolutely not think about how angry he'd been at the time so he wouldn't get lost in his mind again.

"You have a knack for scaring your owl away, don't you?" James muttered like he hoped that would stop Lily from continuing for a moment, and it didn't.

Lily's voice hitched as she once again was forced to remember all that Harry had been through, all on his own, always with no one there to help him. It really was no wonder he lashed out because of the summer he'd had to suffer after all that.

Harry kept sinking farther and farther into his cushion as shame managed to burn out any ill will he'd once held towards his friends, for now at least keeping his mind level in the here and now. His mum was right, this really had come out on the wrong people, he couldn't believe he'd done this to his friends.

"Brave little one," Lily murmured, it took a lot for someone to interrupt someone else's shouting.

"I think I'd fear for my life to hear of her in a furious state," Lily sighed in relief before telling them, "least you seem to be done shouting for now."

Harry hardly looked over at her as he kept flattening his hair and trying to vanish from sight, or more preferably go hunt down his friends and properly apologize to them.

"A torture chamber," Sirius grumbled, which seemed to be true even for Harry. He hadn't been inside there five minutes when he was already showing his worst. Sirius had often wondered if that place was enchanted to bring out the worst of people, and this wasn't disproving his theory.

"Well you've hardly given them the chance to do that," Lily couldn't completely stop her rebuke. "You did just walk in there and start this up."

"You really can't start so open ended Harry," James at least tried for a smile while he corrected Harry in a less harsh tone than Lily had managed. "Even I'm not sure what you're asking for and I'm following your head."

"Thought it was obvious," he rolled his eyes at James, honestly wanting to make the father laugh for a moment as just days ago Harry had seemed too afraid to speak to him, now he was literally mouthing off. It was quite a turn to see such a change coming through him so quickly, though it just made him all the more sad this was the closest he'd ever seem to get to watching his son grow up, years taking place over days.

"You weren't really going to start shouting at them for that?" Lily couldn't stop a frown at him now. "It's not their fault they aren't allowed in."

"They certainly made their letters feel a lot more obnoxious then for 'we don't know.'" Harry grumbled back, still not entirely able to replace the bad mood this book was reminding him of it seemed.

At the word invented, everyone finally felt their spirits lifting again. The twins had always been a foolproof way to make them feel better, and their adventures in inventing was the most entertaining thing going on in the background of Harry's life.

"Really?" Lily demanded, finally turning her sharp eyes off of Harry and onto the book in disapproval. "She's still doing that to them? Mother yes, but I can't really say she has a right to be trashing their things like that."

"I can't believe she's still trying to," James sighed. "At some point it really does boggle the mind how she's still fighting them on something they so clearly want to do, I'd like to think she'd start encouraging them when she realized how badly they want this."

Harry had to resist the temptation to tell them both to knock off Mrs. Weasley, instead he put as much conviction into his voice as he could, "I'm convinced she'll ease up on them in no time." He truly felt it in him the mother would be proud of her boys, but he was weary of saying that in case it caused another spur of pain. He'd managed to keep anyone else from continuing on this for now though.

"I guess I should be flattered I get discussed at these meetings," Harry scowled, even as deep down he could feel something about that was off...

Sirius couldn't help a mean little laugh Ron really hadn't put that together? What exactly had he really been thinking about all summer for not having realized that? Had he and Hermione been that cozy?

Harry gave him a hard nudge to get him to stop, he already felt bad enough for how he'd reacted to seeing his friends, he didn't want to hear the others picking on them now.

Lily was still frowning at him, wishing he'd drop the tone already.

Sirius snorted in surprise before starting to giggle like a maniac as he imagined the look on his mother's face if she heard that. It seemed Kreacher had passed away, a blessing he was more than happy to hear as well.

Lily hadn't meant to shout that so loud, but she'd yelped it more in surprise than anything causing the others to jump as well.

Harry just couldn't shut off his spikes of annoyance lately as he grumbled, "is it just me, or is the system really unfair towards Muggleborns? Just because you've got magical parents they can't tell you're doing magic during your summer holidays, but when I do it," he finished with an obvious enough look.

"To be fair," Lily tried, "it is unintentionally biased. There's just no way possible to detect a single person's magical energy, though studies have tried. The trace is only set to detect that of magic for underage people, not even individuals. So instead they have to do it by location, and just trust that parents aren't allowing their kids to do so during holidays."

Something of what his mother said tickled in Harry's mind, and suddenly he snapped his fingers and said, "that's it, that's why Tonks and Moody could use magic at my place. Lupin was talking about that to Kingsley when I was coming back into the kitchen, but it didn't make any sense at the time. He said something about how because Mr. Weasley had been using magic before at my place it was going to be overlooked. I didn't know what he meant because Mr. Weasley wasn't even there."

Remus blanched and avoided all eyes for a moment to pretend he hadn't just heard Harry automatically slip back into calling him by his last name again, now right in this room.

"That, kind of makes sense," James frowned in thought, "he was there to pick you up last time, and so long as he forewarned the Ministry again he was going to pick you up, they'd just ignore magical energy at your house for that time period because they'd just assume it was Arthur doing it."

"I wonder why Arthur wasn't there?" Sirius frowned, "he couldn't have been at work, otherwise that wouldn't have worked."

Harry just shrugged for answer, though something of what Ron said tried to bubble to the surface. Guard duty? Had Harry been watched even more closely after the dementor attack? No, that didn't make sense, there wouldn't be a guard on the house while he was being picked up, so what-

"Well I'm just happy you won't be in even more trouble for that," Lily sighed in relief as she went back to the book.

"I'm sure it was hard to miss," Sirius grinned.

Harry gave a sheepish smile while everyone around him laughed, though it did make Sirius wonder if the Order had heard this and no one had come up to check? They might have blocked out the noise outside of the room though in an effort to keep the kids out.

"You've been saying everything grumpily lately," James told him pleasantly.

"Can't seem to shake it off when I keep getting annoyed," he snipped.

"I would just like to take this moment to remind that they were complaining of Percy doing this last summer," Sirius grinned.

"I'm positive the twins have flamboyant answers for that," Remus snorted.

James suddenly blinked as he eyed his two friends, before cracking up laughing.

"You going to share the joke?" Sirius demanded when he'd subsided enough but the baby was still giggling in his arms.

"I'm honestly just picturing their reactions when they realize who they're in the same house with," James stated with a stupid smirk in place.

It only took them a minute before they exchanged impish grins with each other, but Harry shot down the idea at once as he said, "well I never told them that I knew who the Marauders were, so unless Ron did, I don't think they even know."

Sirius was suddenly pouting at him as he demanded to know why.

Harry answered simply, "when would it have come up?" The only scenario he could see was if Sirius or Remus had referred to the other as their nicknames, and while they swapped between the two often enough in here, Harry hadn't once heard Sirius or Professor Lupin do the same in his time.

Sirius and Remus were starting to look disappointed now, after the twins had gone on about them when the Map had first been introduced they'd love to think they got a chance with a real chat to their follow up pranksters.

Harry grimaced as he realized he was just killing everyone's mood of late, and insisted to his brain to cut it out already at least in here. What was it about this year that was putting him in such a foul mood no matter what?

"Harry, how dare you!" James mock outraged as he wagged his finger at him.

Harry forced a smile he didn't really feel at the picking, now struggling with himself to understand why he couldn't just laugh along like he had in the past. This couldn't all be because of his rotten summer and lingering shame for what he'd done to his friends. What on earth was happening to him this year to cause such a resurgence of these bad feelings he was having so many problems shaking?

Sirius sighed in disappointment Fred had skipped a perfectly good opportunity to use his name. Harry clearly needed the laugh he was sure it would have given.

Harry suddenly smiled for what felt like the first time in hours as he chuckled at his own description for seemingly no reason, and the others didn't even care enough to question it, they were just happy to see him fighting to get past whatever mood he was in.

"Apparently everyone could." At least this time his voice had come out more self deprecating than angry. Then his face managed to brighten even more as he said, "I think that's the first time she's outright said hello to me like that."

"Only took her three years to do so," Sirius grinned, "maybe by next summer she'll carry on a conversation."

"Darn mothers who think ahead," Remus pouted.

"Tonks keeps getting better and better though," Sirius smirked at the idea of that little kid growing up to teach kids such valuable things.

"Snape?" They all chorused in disgust. Lily broke free of that first though as she thought back to wondering just what Snape did for the Order, and Dumbledore's rather interesting instructions to him at the end of last year. She remembered distinctly Dumbledore's words in saying Snape had turned spy for them and that's what had kept him out of Azkaban, and while the boys had initially dissed the idea as they refused to trust anything by him, Lily could almost feel hopeful for it even if it didn't make sense. What reason did he have to do this that hadn't been there when he joined in the first place?

"Doesn't make him not a git," James scowled.

"Here I was wishing Ron would appear here," Sirius smirked, "now I don't have to miss him."

James just chuckled as he agreed, but also said, "honestly though, any sane person but Hermione would say the same."

"I wonder which brother Ginny looks up to the most," Remus snorted.

"Whatever works love," Lily sighed, still wishing he'd apologize rather than just deciding to blow the matter over.

"Oh?" They all muttered with intrigue, having thought nothing of the casual flirt mentioned in Harry's last year.

"Well congratulations to the two, I hope they enjoy those lessons," Lily smirked while the boys outright began giggling as well at the news, or at least the way the twins had delivered it.

"I don't see why Bill couldn't have done that?" Remus said innocently enough, "I don't see how he needed to come back for just a little desk job."

"I'll explain it to you later Moony," Sirius smirked as he patted his friend's shoulder.

"Oh yeah," the three Marauders muttered, seeming to forget about him more often than not.

Harry though tensed all over again, a sudden blackening trying to shroud all memories he had of Percy.

"Well I'm happy you brought him up," Lily smiled, "I was curious if he got to keep his job in the department, I'd be really happy for him if he got something so young."

Harry just gave her a sad little frown as he resisted the impulse to start bracing himself for some very bad news.

"Uhoh," James frowned in confusion as he tried to lean around Lily and see what that reaction was. He was no fan of Percy's but that hadn't been a pleasant start.

"What did he do?" Remus struggled to get out in a non accusing voice, but it was hard to imagine him doing something to cause that reaction in his parents that wasn't terrible.

"Look Sirius, she is technically having a conversation with me," Harry muttered just to try and keep that bad feeling from washing over him any second.

"One on one then," Sirius corrected, his eyes still trained menacingly on the book and not to be distracted, even by this.

Lily's eyes flipped wide in shock, she couldn't imagine having such a terrible fight with her child it caused that kind of reaction.

"Wouldn't that be a good thing though?" Sirius' tone was still more icy than confusion, he'd never liked hearing about Percy and he wasn't at all liking how this was starting considering the last thing he'd heard about the Ministry hadn't been a good thing.

"No one noticed, I'd hardly think Percy had been blamed for that," Remus huffed.

"I guess I can kind of see that," James sighed, though he still didn't see how this had to do with having such a terrible fight with his parents.

Harry winced with renewed chagrin at what he'd done to his friends, now realizing how his friends had felt all the more because of how his dad had shouted at him this morning.

"Oh bollocks," Sirius groaned as he ran a hand miserably down his face. "Fudge didn't really try to do this did he?"

"Percy didn't really fall for this," Remus countered with a calculating look. "It's been made obvious Harry favors the Weasley's, and if Fudge really hates Harry now, then doing something like this for a Weasley doesn't make any sense."

Lily was fidgeting uneasily with the pages before she pressed herself to go on, now sincerely hoping this fight hadn't really been about what she was thinking.

"Really?" James demanded. "That, that's just so-" he cut himself off as he seemed to run out of words for how idiotic that felt. What was Fudge's game here?

"Well yes, if he'd earned it," Lily sighed.

"I don't get it," Harry frowned at them. "Yeah it's weird, but what's so bad?"

"If Fudge's attitude is anything like we last saw," Lily patiently explained, "than Percy getting something at a time like this should raise a red flag for him and his family that the Minister's up to something, putting someone so close to Harry Potter in his office."

"What?" Harry wanted to laugh, though his sinking gut was confirming she was right on point. "You think Fudge wants Percy to spy on me and report my favorite dessert?"

"Not in so light of questions though," Remus agreed grimly while Harry looked back to the book with worry.

"Oh, and now Dumbledore's involved to," James groaned, this going from bad to worse.

"I can not believe any sane person would think like that," Sirius sneered.

"I don't understand why they wouldn't believe this," Harry ground out, trying his best not to shout another grievance that had been plaguing him that summer. "Ron said they were all ready to believe it when the Philosopher's Stone was nearly taken from Gringotts."

Lily looked at him sadly as she explained, "The concept is a bit skewed. There's a difference between people speculating and fearing, and outright saying it. I'm sure that if Dumbledore had declared that yes, Voldemort had been the one to do this, then people would have reacted the same then."

Harry still didn't think that made any sense, but stopped arguing the point.

"In league with him?" Lily demanded. "He's not the one trying to destabilize life!"

"Which really shows more about Fudge than anything," James snapped in outrage, he found Arthur's fascination perfectly understandable and honestly compelling when Lily and Sirius treated him to Muggle education. It really showed how a person thought though when they'd hear the same things and look down on the whole civilization for not being as good as theirs.

"But, Percy should know that?" Sirius forced himself to phrase it as a question. "He's smart enough to know when he's being played."

"The twins would have done it to him enough," James agreed.

Lily was just blinking slowly down at the pages now, she didn't even want to continue to what she now truly knew the fight had been about, she didn't want to hear about Percy fighting with his parents about this because she knew without a doubt Percy was wrong. The saddest part was though, some part of her still pitied the poor boy. She'd long since noticed he'd always felt ostracized from his family, and earning a promotion like this and going off his past experiences should have taught him his parents would praise him for this like always. Then they went and dismissed him, and Percy would feel shunned. It didn't excuse such a fight it left his parents in the mess they were at all though.

"That sounds like completely the opposite though!" Sirius snapped. "Every time we've heard of Arthur he's out there helping someone out and on first name terms with a lot more people than Percy who his own boss didn't even know his name!" Sirius was breathing rather hard at the end, but he couldn't help it. Percy wasn't his family, but he could still feel the reminding sting of betrayal that rat had caused him as he heard of this. It was a different kind of betrayal, but choosing that Ministry over his family could not be worked out in his mind!

Harry was having trouble picturing Percy shouting such a thing when he could far more easily recall Percy splashing into the water just last year in concern for his brothers welfare. What had changed in that time to make Percy like this?

Harry wasn't the only one scowling by the end of all that, no one could believe what they were watching Lily spit out in frustration. Of all the times they'd been agitated of hearing about Percy, they still would never have called this!

"It's a good thing they don't know your real last name then," Remus sneered in disgust.

"I still can't picture it," James whispered. He'd never imagined that Voldemort's return could manage to pull yet more families apart like it had his own. His eyes flickered to Remus briefly, unable to think yet again what it had implied they'd all be thinking about him in the coming year, and forced himself to listen to Lily go on.

Lily couldn't stop a little hitch in her throat, even with Ron describing it she couldn't force the image into her head of any child turning on their mother like that. Molly did not deserve that for anything, especially as she was most likely only there to let him know she still loved him despite this decision.

"You would think," Sirius agreed nastily, "but I've never met someone so ignorantly stupid they wouldn't understand the word's Voldemort's back either."

Harry watched those around him yelp furiously on his behalf again, making him smile just slightly at the defense.

Before Sirius could even open his mouth to make his recurring joke, James suddenly half screamed, "how much was Percy told!?"

The baby in his lap let out a wail of protest at something so loud, but even while James began soothing him he had worried eyes on his best friend.

It only took but a moment for the others to realize what that implied, and Sirius lost a shade of color before he got out, "I'm sure if Percy knew anything new about me he'd have gone badgering that right to his new master."

Harry was saddened to see them all so easily flip on Percy, Sirius instantly resorting to those kinds of insults, and then confused at his own confusion as Harry was very sure Percy deserved it for the rest of his life. He was still trying to recall the time Percy had weaved himself through an angry crowd to fight back against those Death Eaters last year as the same guy who'd done this to his family. Something in him was trying to insist Percy must regret this...

"No, most likely it would have been an introduction type thing like what happened with Molly, so if I hadn't been around to their place yet, I'm sure he knows nothing about me."

It was comforting at least for the moment that Percy hadn't gone so far into the Order he would likely know more current whereabouts on Sirius at least. Did he know anything about the Order? Ron had said this had happened right before they'd been going to Grimmauld place, so surely Percy knew his family was fixing to relocate out of the Burrow and where they were headed? Maybe it had been like Harry though, and they'd only been told of the location right before they'd entered, so Percy had no clue of anything.

Lily had to go back and reread what Hermione had actually said to set her husband into a panic, and then they were all just as baffled at Harry by the comment enough no one interrupted her in hopes Hermione would just explain.

"Why would he?" Remus began with his eyes narrowed.

"Mention him how?" The others could already hear a growl beginning in Sirius' throat.

"A standing joke about what?" Lily began nastily, but forced herself to continue as she didn't even want to imagine what all was being said about her baby, what was being said would be bad enough.

"Oh no," James began furiously ruffling up his hair at once. "Please don't tell me-"

Lily cut him off as her voice continued rising in sharpness.

"I want to know if she's mentioned that to the twins, earn her a lot of respect in their book," Remus muttered bleakly, looking for anything good for just a moment.

"Could hardly forget," Harry muttered as those articles still stung him now thinking about.

Harry felt some distant part of him want to laugh for his friend which was not coming to him now at all of the grim, wide eyed faces.

Harry really had been trying to keep himself under control, so it surprised him when his Mum didn't and she exploded a mountain of diatribe on that Prophet and what they were doing to her Hare Bare. The boys watched her vent like they just had about Percy, agreeing with every word she said so much they were just a bit disappointed when Harry gently cleared his throat and tried to cut her off.

"Really Mum, it ticked me off too, but-"

"It's disgusting," she insisted like she thought Harry was trying to argue that point. "The Ministry I work for would never force the Prophet into pulling these stunts, but clearly the editor's right in Fudge's back pocket and I can't believe anyone would do this to you!" She wanted to keep pressing her point right up into Fudge's face, but as Harry continued to look sadly at her she instead turned burning eyes back on the pages.

"Has he completely lost whatever a mind he had!" James gaped. "He's only famous because of what Voldemort did to him," clearly the act of saying his own murder still couldn't really get through his mouth, "what possible reason could Fudge think Harry would make that up for!?"

"If I find out, I'll be sure to let you know," Harry sighed, now feeling even more guilty for his earlier anger as he kept trying to curb theirs without success.

Lily too couldn't manage to quite get that out in her tempered voice, but it hardly cooled her either as she kept going venomously.

Remus' brows shot up in surprise at this turn of circumstances.

"But he's not going to be expelled," Sirius snarled at once. "So apparently they're just going to sit on that story forever, poor them."

Harry managed a smile for his godfather's utter confidence in that, managing to increase his own in that outcome and increasingly improving his mood about that at least.

"If they abide by their own laws half the things I've heard them doing lately wouldn't be done," Lily snapped.

"Because Molly wouldn't be at all suspicious why the twins would choose to vanish as someone approached," James sighed as he rubbed at the bridge of his nose, wishing he could put more energy into the comment but already feeling strained from so many stressful chapters in a row now. How was this one already worse than the last?

Harry still huffed with one last tick of annoyance he'd been left out of that.

"I'm so proud," Sirius blinked more in confusion than actual pride though. "She's come so far already."

"Ginny's getting more interesting as time goes by as well," James agreed at once, hoping to stay on a pleasant topic for just five minutes now felt like a miracle.

"No!"

The sudden outburst from Sirius had Harry and Remus nearly leaping from their seats in shock, which he clearly took no notice of as he kept going hatefully.

"Of all the rotten luck! My parents kicked the bucket but that nasty little blighter couldn't have gone with them! Just what did I do to deserve having that thing in my sole care!"

"I'd think you'd find it a good thing," James tried to offer up some happy suggestion for this. "Now you can clothe him and just have him out of your life for good." The odd part was though, if Sirius was going to do that he'd have done it already.

Sirius didn't offer up any more suggestions though as he huffed and grumbled a bit more under his breath while Lily tried to ignore the outburst she found uncalled for.

"Still haven't explained why they have to do that," Remus grumbled as he massaged his ear and glared at Sirius, at least he understood his friends consternation a little better, but now his ear felt like it was starting to ring from all the shouting going on so recently.

Harry's mouth went dry as he ducked his head all over again for causing his friends to ever look at him like that, now wishing he could give himself a good kick in the rear.

"At least you clearly regret it," James tried to pacify him, Harry had suffered enough guilt it was time he be comforted at least a bit. "I've only ever had one really bad row with Sirius, and we didn't exactly hug it out when all was said and done. You apologize to them, I'm sure they won't think on it any more."

Harry looked up towards the book hopefully.

"Well that could have gone better," Remus chuckled.

"But at least you seem on equal ground again," Sirius sighed as he tried to get that old problem out of his head.

"Not a good thing to be lingering on for now then," Lily muttered as she knew that if Harry's temper did break again, it really should be on him.

"Well that's not helping," Sirius grumbled, wondering what he'd done to have so much of his family being pushed back into his mind all of a sudden.

"At least Walburga taught him something then," Sirius' teeth flashed with that grin in an almost predatory way, "I'm sure I can help with that."

"Sirius, you're disgusting me," Lily snapped at him before reading loudly in hopes he was kidding.

"I think I'd be worried for her if she had though," Remus chuckled. "Little fighter that she is, I can't imagine she will until she gets what she wants."

"Least she could do is leave that elf out," Sirius huffed.

Harry suddenly felt an alarm bell going off in the back of his head, leaning just that little bit closer to Sirius and suddenly very worried for his godfather's behaviour towards his elf...

Finally they all felt themselves focusing on something they all wanted to hear about again, even the current Order members were insanely curious what was going on in this future.

James suddenly realized at the beginning that it had in fact ben Snape Molly must have been referring to as having arrived, and his agitation only increased as he realized Dumbledore really wasn't there to give some kind of explanation to Harry for leaving him like that for so long?

"We all are," Sirius begrudgingly agreed, his mind still trying to work out just what exactly that was and when it would start taking place. If he started seeing Snivellus at his meetings, Sirius wasn't going to be a happy camper with his Order much longer.

"Have I mentioned how brilliant those two are?" James eyes brightened with excitement as he fully appreciated this fascinating device. "As if I needed any more proof they're set for life with all we've heard so far, this is such a cool idea I'd buy a dozen!"

"As if there isn't enough filth in that house," Sirius sneered even as his mind tried to boggle Snivellus in his childhood home. Well the two did go hand in hand with how filthy they were.

"Is anyone going to explain that?" Lily grumped as it just kept being mentioned.

"So that quiet thing didn't seem to work out," Remus blinked in confusion.

"She really is a clumsy little one," James chuckled at the thought.

"Best use that troll's foot ever came to, getting knocked over by that girl," Sirius smirked.

Lily suddenly recoiled into the cushions in shock, and some honest fear as she glanced at her boy and back to the pages with concern. Before anyone could demand, she kept reading anyways.

"Oh she didn't," Sirius began, looking almost faint from the overwhelming disgust he could feel at such a thing existing.

Remus was almost concerned this didn't seem to be new to him, how many times had this happened? He had a horrible idea who this vile woman was actually a portrait of, as he kept watching Sirius' face as he seemed to be in a living nightmare.

"I think I found Sirius," James whispered to no one as Sirius' mouth was starting to drop open with horror.

Sirius began opening and closing his mouth wordlessly, apparently too appalled for words back, for now.

"Chapter's done," Lily sighed as she passed the book to James and took her baby back, all of them still braced for Sirius to crack and some kind of reaction to burst out.

HPHPHPHPHP

I did not mean to dramatically end with Sirius twice in a row, but I can't resist cutting these chapters off either because I'm a terrible person like that.

*I've had a few people ask me to explain why Lily and James weren't their own Secret Keeper, and I promise I'll bring that up in book seven when Bill mentions he's his own, but for now I couldn't think to make the same rules apply to an empty house that didn't belong to Dumbledore in any way.


	5. THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

It didn't entirely come to their expectations, as they'd been expecting a rant about his mother, but instead he snarled in frustration and got to his feet, pacing and muttering angrily, "woman just can't leave me in peace! Even in death she'll find a way to drive me mad, or more mad as I'm still convinced that's what I'd have to be to go back in there for some stupid meeting that Snape's a part of."

"I think we should leave and get some lunch," James sighed as he gazed down at the book. They'd only been at this for a few hours, but really, they'd just been dealing with so many things back to back already a break felt needed.

Sirius stomped wordlessly to the kitchen still muttering obsecnietes.

They ate their meal in some resemblance of peace but Sirius still refused to leave his plate, scraping it clean and then still scraping his fork against it. Remus hadn't actually meant to whisper, "Sirius, you didn't really mean that right? You know that place didn't-" he broke off as he couldn't think of how to phrase what Azkaban had done to him.

"I'm not acting right," he muttered to his plate alone. "I know I'm not, I don't need to see you two acting so off when I'm mentioned to notice it myself. Haven't gone after Harry, haven't done a damned thing really, now I'm actually back at that place, been there since Harry got there it seems, and I don't come up to see him until I hear that woman shouting." He sighed and shook his head, letting his hair fall into his face.

"You've clearly got a lot on your mind," James tried his very best to put something light into this. "A new feeling for you I'm sure."

Sirius did not rise to the bait, but he didn't seem to want to linger on this in front of them either as he pushed away from the table and wouldn't look at anyone as he went back to the room.

On the way there Lily managed to step in the shards of the vase James had broken earlier. She quickly banished the mess without remorse, that was just one step of ridding Petunia from her life.

James sat unhappily in his seat as he watched Lily sit back down beside him cuddling their child, his mind still on Sirius as he began flipping to his chapter and wishing he had more to comfort his best friend with, but so long as the topic was going to be over that house he didn't see how that was possible.

"Spiteful old hag," Sirius spat, "can't get away from that even in her death."

"Well maybe you shouldn't have given her the idea," James still tried to play this off as a joke, "she did give you absolute hell when you put all that stuff up in your room."

Sirius still refused to react past grumbling.

"I don't understand why you don't just put something in the way, put a door in front of curtains or something if keeping her face covered keeps her silent." Harry asked.

"I've got one better, just blow the whole wall up and be done with it," Remus added on.

"Oh how I wish I still had Moony's wisdom at a time like that," Sirius sighed theatrically before explaining to Harry what Remus knew full well, "the permanent sticking charm keeping her to that wall means that you'd have to rip down that whole house to get that thing gone, the charm is now in the very fabric of the building and no amount of blasting walls will get it off unless the whole frame goes with it, that's some powerful magic to get rid of anything, and not going to be used on something as precious as headquarters right now." His face puckered with disappointment as Lily explained the more reasonable half.

"As for putting something more solid to keep that woman blocked, I'm afraid that magic can't just have a wall put in front of it and there won't be consequences. So long as it's enchanted to react to noise and start screaming, if you try to cover that up, the person who did so will suffer terribly for it. It comes with its own countercurse that if you block it in any way from acting like it should, you're cursed. The curtains are enough that it can still activate, while ah, well at least you won't have to see the stupid thing."

Harry just sighed and grumbled about complex magic.

"Striving to torture me till the end of my days," Sirius huffed.

James felt his heart sink as he could feel the weight of that even if he hadn't seen his best friend in person.

Lily beat him to the punch by sympathizing, "I'm sure you're just exaggerating like always Sirius, just because he's got you doing things you don't want to be doing."

Sirius wasn't so sure, he still couldn't help a worm of agitation going through his brain of how he'd been acting. He'd been acting more normal last year with the Tournament going on, this just didn't feel right to him.

They all gave a hard twitch at that, though they hadn't really been pretending before, you couldn't deny anymore something bad was going on with their Padfoot.

Remus tried to force some hope into his voice, "I'm positive he's just in a mood because he's in that house for a while, once he and Harry step back out he'll lighten up at once."

Sirius took a deep breath and tried to take Moony's words to heart, but he also couldn't pretend Harry's frown deepened at the words.

Sirius still couldn't stop a nasty little shiver for the reminder of that place, where so many of his mother's precious 'lessons' about everything he hated had taken place.

"What a shame he didn't, I heard the scenery is lovely," James rolled his eyes.

Lily snorted softly as she could honestly imagine that.

"When she said she was clumsy, she really meant it," Remus chuckled softly.

"Did you really think she was kidding?" Harry laughed lightly back.

"Some people exaggerate it," Remus half heartedly persisted, trying to press into any mundane point with Sirius still looking so tight over continued mentionings of this place. "Just because you drop or break something once in awhile, I've been known to be clumsy as well. This however, is clinically clumsy."

Finally causing the others to start a light giggle as well.

"Just what are they looking into?" Lily asked of no one with exasperation.

"Couldn't tell you," James pouted.

Harry was sad to note he didn't even have a gut feeling about this, it was probably something of the Order he was never told.

"That woman's just no fun," Sirius sighed tragically, trying to force himself to remain off his own mother for a time and focus on this overbearing one.

"Or, you know, don't bother hiding stuff inside the Order and just let them know anyways," James grumbled.

"Where do they go?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Wherever Bill wants them to," Remus shrugged, "they've probably got some special place they keep all those documents that only Order membres can summon them from."

They all felt a sharp spike of agitation at the mention of him.

"I can not belive you of all people were sitting next to him," Jame balked, staring down at the page. Sirius looked just as confused at his setting mate, but then they were all surprised at Harry's sudden burst of laughter.

"What's so funny then?" Remus prompted as Harry rubbed gently at his temple, his eyes shining with mirth.

"Oh, I just remember all of a sudden Ron telling me about how Sirius reacted when Dung came over. It was just Sirius, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Bill there at the time when he showed up. Apparently he came stumbling into the house, saying 'Dementors attacked, Figgs going to kill me, where's Dumbledore?' Mr. Weasley apparently flipped out at once, ran down into the kitchen and sent an owl off to me, and disapparated before Dung had really gotten all the words out."

He paused there and turned those same amused eyes on Sirius and continued, "Want to know what you did? According to Ron and Hermione you made him repeat it, and then you started strangling him."

Sirius cocked his head to the side, then nodded like this made perfect sense to him. The others couldn't help but give grim smiles as well, it felt rather appropriate to the way they were feeling. Harry finished off by saying, "It took Bill pulling you off to get you to stop, but from then on Ron said that you tended to dog Dung wherever he went, and he'd flinch every time you like scratched your nose or something."

James was still chuckling mercilessly at the imagery as he went back to the pages.

"Bet you anything that wanker agreed with me just for some browny points," Sirius sniffed in disdain, hardly mollified to find out he'd attempted to strangle someone who had been supposed to be looking after his Godson.

"No thanks to you," Lily still couldn't help but snip.

"The least of which," James sniffed.

"I can't believe he had the nerve to do something that agitates her, right in front of her," Remus raised a brow as he still knew how ticked Lily was at him for the moment, surely Molly was just as bad if not worse as she probably approved of Harry being followed.

"Pleasant," Lily crinkled up her nose.

"I'd have rather been next to the stove," Harry muttered to himself, his rage had made him forget about his cold upon arrival, but he still hadn't fully regained feeling in all his fingers from that flight.

"I'm supposing Tonks has knocked over one to many stews," Remus smirked.

"I'm sensing that's the wrong place for her to be," James rolled his eyes, "more likely she should be set to some potatoes, least she can break those all she likes."

Sirius still felt a flaring agitation rising in him, still pestered over this reunion.

"Sirius dear, I need you to do me a favor and start strangling him again," Lily said almost pleasantly.

"I'm positive I'll be all too happy to," Sirius almost managed a cheerful look back at the thought.

"I've missed hearing about that cat," Remus gave a light snicker.

Then Sirius flinched again, harder, as he'd already had to realize how dumb that question was, yet he couldn't have bothered to find out any point before now? What exactly had he been so busy doing to not have done so?

"So glad you find that funny," Harry happily poked fun, while the others all listened curiously to see just what about that had made Sirius act even a smidge more normal at laughing at anything.

James could not read that without a nasty catch in his throat, hoping beyond everything his best friend was kidding about that part, as Sirius still flinched at the thought of what those fowl demons were going to be doing to his future. Sirius making light of this was entirely his Padfoot though, so he read on with more enthusiasm than he would have thought.

"Sirius," Lily began dangerously, clearly saying she'd switch that threat of violence to him in a heartbeat if she heard of anymore fool headed moves on his part.

"I, what?" Sirius demanded, feeling like his heart had just dropped down into his stomach. This couldn't really mean what he was thinking...

"But, all of that was true last year to, and you were getting around just fine!" Remus snapped, trying to pretend he hadn't watched James go the worst shade of red at having to be reminded who their friend was sharing all of their secrets with.

There was a deadly moment of silence where everyone just sat there for a moment and gaped at what Sirius had just implied he'd been up to. No, he hadn't really-

Sirius' temper snapped. The shouting they'd all been expecting before to come up when faced with his mother finally seemed to have tantamounted as past memories blocked out everything and he began shouting, "I can't decide who I hate worse right now, the rat for my name still being smeared, or Dumbledore! HE PUT ME IN WHERE!?"

His voice may have ruptured to stop him from continuing, that or he actually realized the baby was crying fiercely now, either way he forced himself to stop that and instead got to his feet and began stamping more than pacing across the room in frustration.

"Sirius-" Someone tried to say, but he didn't even take note of it as he kept going in a forced lesser volume, "it's damn near as bad as if I'd been locked into Azkaban all over again, there's no way I'm actually-" he cut himself off that time though, because in some nasty twisted way it did explain his behaviour so far. If Dumbledore had actually convinced him to stay in that house for his safety, than he would be in the worst mood of his life the whole time there, it's no wonder Harry's problems were falling to his wayside, he had trouble thinking of anything else now when he wasn't in that place, but trapped back in those dank walls and he'd be a bottomless pit of self pity.

"Listen Padfoot," James insisted over his still fussy child, who was now making more noise than Sirius, but Lily refused to leave the room this time as she kept soothing him patiently and keeping an eye on Sirius. "Dumbledore's insane for thinking that's what you should do, and Merlin it's a twist of irony you've actually seemed to listen to him in doing it, but I think you're forgetting something really important."

"What?" He barked like a snapping animal.

"It's not happening to you now. You never have to go back there again if you don't want to. Deep breaths Pads, I promise Dumbledore will rue the day he decided to do this to you."

"Rue?" Remus asked more to change the subject than anything. "Look at you using big kid words."

James theatrically pouted at him, while Sirius sighed but at least stopped shouting for now, and so had the baby. James still kept watching Sirius carefully, but when it became clear he was the holdup Sirius just waved him on, though now he looked more likely than Lily to be strangling a certain someone soon, and it wasn't Mundungus anymore.

"Mutual hatred of someone will do wonders to bring two people closer together," James gave an awkward smile in agreement, his thoughts on Snape and how for so many years four people had spent their lives hating his every step. Now one of them was on the same side as him.

"That is actual torture," Remus declared.

"I'll be lucky if I don't go mad and murder everyone in the room next time," Sirius agreed.

Harry wondered if Sirius had known at the time he sounded exactly like his father did upon reading that, then he felt his spirits sink that much lower as Harry kept realizing that with every minute he valued getting to watch James do anything, his Sirius probably missed his brother double.

"Ten years eh?" Sirius muttered absently, trying to draw the timeframe in his head, but since he honestly had no clue of who died first, his parents or Regulus, it still wasn't helping anything.

Harry felt a sudden flash of violence overtake him, some memory trying to bubble right to the surface of his strangling Mundungus-

"I can see what his attention was just so riveted on," Lily snarked.

"Trust Mundungus to try filching something from that house," Sirius said with an actual touch of indulgence though, he'd help loot the place for the man even while holding some burning violence for him.

"Why would he want it to?" Remus asked in honest confusion. "Wouldn't it be worth more with that crest in place, proving its pureblood usage."

"Depends on what Dung's using it for I guess," Sirius shrugged without care.

James could already feel a touch of indulgence replacing his lackluster mood at Sirius' future problems, the twins always had made him feel better though and this sounded like something right out of his late teen years.

Harry had to swallow very hard around the boy's sudden laughter, that felt like a bad omen to him.

James wasn't shouting that too loud considering his infant was still being rather fidgety in his mother's arms, but the tone was clear in his voice and they were all giggling now as none of them would deny they had been the same way after they'd turned seventeen.

"Good to know some things don't change," Sirius muttered as he brushed some hair back out of his face and grinned at Harry who'd quickly forced himself to ignore his moment and had indeed been laughing along.

"Parents always think you're supposed to be responsible no matter what age you're at," James sighed.

Lily winced as she heard that again, how she wished Molly would quit badgering those boys about being like their siblings, it couldn't be good for any of them to always be compared to each other, she still remembered how Ron had been on that first train ride and how badly it had shown him being looked over when it came to his fourth year.

"I'm sure that got her point across better," Remus snorted.

"But Percy apparently did, and no one was yelling at him for that," James huffed.

"I don't buy that for a second," Harry muttered to himself, thinking of how Bill's very look screamed he didn't like abiding by normal standards and enjoyed his reckless moments.

"Charlie clearly needs some fun tips then," Lily smiled to herself.

James voice broke with a sharp hiss of frustration even before he found out how the guys own parents reacted. He didn't care if he had no personal relation to Percy himself, he now couldn't help picturing that little shit of a Weasley in as fowl a way as possible.

Lily felt herself wobbling and tucking her child that much closer to her as it hurt to picture such a thing happening to those parents.

"I see why the Order's still keeping you around," Sirius nodded to himself, "least you can still manage to change the subject slick as butter."

Harry gave a sad sigh as he wondered if Percy would be proud of himself for creating such an awkward silence at just the mention of his name.

"Oh boy," they all muttered, as Sirius wasn't being at his most pleasant around them while in mention of that house, but around someone he'd shown not a spot of like for inside it, this could turn ugly fast.

"And she's telling you this, because?" Remus asked with honest amusement.

"Wants to know the best spell to set it on fire?" Sirius shrugged carelessly.

Harry suddenly blinked in utter fascination at the idea as he turned to Remus and asked, "you said a Boggart could read your mind and automatically turn into the thing you fear most, but could it do that if it dosen't realize Moody's looking at it? What do Boggarts look like when no one's around?"

"No one knows a Boggarts true form," Remus reminded, "not even Moody. Most likely it's just hiding as something already to fear you, and the person who did get closest to it could still manage to transform and scare them before they'd cast it off."

Harry was still trying to picture Moody being afraid of anything a Boggart could turn into as a laughable idea, but still the idea of that Boggart bothered him for some reason, like it did scare someone.

"I wouldn't let Sirius anywhere near anything in that place without taking his wand away, and that's too dangerous as well," James shook his head at Molly. "Just what makes her think it's a good idea to let Sirius help try and clean anything?"

Sirius just wasn't in the mood to respond back and keep playing this off like a joke, the thought of that room like every other dragging up some haunting memories he'd done a good job of burying over the years, this one in particular being the time his dad had given him a week long lecture on the dark creatures of the world and what Sirius was expected to do if he ever met them, not a pleasant reminder while sitting next to Moony.

"I can't imagine it was hardly disguised," Lily muttered, Sirius had never done a good job of hiding any feelings.

This was so randomly unexpected James had to stifle a giggle before going on, and then read slightly louder over the others still doing so.

"If she has never done that to his face, I will pay that woman my weight in gold this instant to do it now," Sirius managed to get out in between laughter.

"No, no, you're not thinking hard enough," Remus instructed with a smirk, "she's supposed to be doing it behind his back in the Order meetings while he's not looking."

James actually had to stop to catch his breath back from laughing so hard, while Lily rolled her eyes and was beginning to think Tonks really would fit into this bunch a little too well.

"This really is fascinating," Lily grinned the more she realized how flexible Tonks ability was outside of a text describing it.

"Urgh, as if the original version wasn't vile enough," James chuckled.

"Think I'd rather go back hearing about Tonks noses," Remus huffed quietly to himself, which Sirius still heard and rolled his eyes at, hoping Moony wasn't going to be like this every time he was mentioned, and completely ignoring the fact that he had been the same lately.

"That's what they're doing now," Lily agreed.

"Has that happened yet?" James asked in confusion, though after a while all of the deaths really started blurring together.

"I think Sturgis was actually doing some looking into that area," Remus nodded to himself, "he mentioned it last time, so maybe, or it's just fixing to."

"Must be a big name in the goblin community to still be remembered so vividly," Lily said sadly, as normally wizards were horrible about keeping track of other creatures history.

Remus muttered something under his breath about how that would tempt a lot more than goblins, but Sirius gave him a hard nudge to shut up that kind of talk.

"I'm sure no one got their gold back from Bagman," Lily scowled at the reminder of that, the twins in particular nearly having suffered a great fallback for it.

"Well at least this sounds far more entertaining," James grinned.

James nearly couldn't finish to the end he was laughing so hard, though he really was the only one. Lily still found him too annoying to laugh at such a stupid thing, and though Sirius normally would have he was on Lily's side for once.

Remus still looked distant and distracted like he hadn't even realized they'd switched to another topic.

"At least someone's enjoying themselves," Harry sighed.

"Can't fault his logic though," Sirius did nodd in agreement to that, causing Lily to glare at him as she wished he was kidding.

"Don't know what she's talking about," Remus snorted, "he's clearly looked them all up verbatim."

"So he can do them exactly wrong," James smirked.

"Just what have you been up to regarding them?" James suddenly demanded eagerly.

Since the first time that place had come up, Sirius truly looked interested in the story again and waved James on eagerly in hopes he would at least find that out.

"So what's she glaring at you for then?" Remus asked in honest disappointment if that had been what that look was for.

"I most likely indulged him a lot before he skipped out on Harry," Sirius offered, "and maybe she didn't approve of the way I handled him when he came to tell us."

"Can't imagine that's it," Lily scoffed, "since I can all to easily picture Molly wanting to throw a swing as well."

"I'm positive she's not the only one," Sirius sniffed, even if he was still on Harry's side he should have known about it, it didn't negate that Dung hadn't been doing his job.

Lily was frowning to herself for a different reason, thinking that it technically was Sirius' house and Molly shouldn't be shooting looks at him for having anyone stay over. She did wonder at Sirius' motives behind this, but she knew that he didn't know now.

"Probably back from when he was single digits though," Harry corrected with a slight snort.

They all burst out laughing at that one, though Harry blushed vividly as he was again reminded who he had demanded those answers from, very vocally.

"You sure do have the best timing Padfoot," Remus muttered.

Lily flushed in agitation at Molly saying that for her son. It should be Sirius' decision, and more than that, it should be hers to decide what Harry knew at what age. She wasn't the only one scowling hatefully for that comment, but somehow it hurt her the worst that she watched Harry flush with a new embarrassment as his eyes flickered from her and away again almost shamefully, like he'd just been wondering if his mum would say the same.

"Honestly Sirius, I think I'm impressed with your restraint," Lily seemed the only one who was surprised though.

James now looked offended for his mate as he said, "Sirius knows better than to get between a mum and her kids. Molly probably asked Sirius specifically not to say anything to them and he knows to respect that."

Lily looked chagrined enough Sirius didn't even bother to smirk at her, much.

"They've always seemed rather good at their impressions," Remus muttered randomly as he shifted uneasily in his seat, he could already feel a fight breaking out and he wasn't even in the room for it.

"Hey!" Sirius barked in outrage.

"He's the only one who should get to decide," James agreed dangerously. He'd spent hours now hating the world that left Sirius the one doing so, but he'd had to come to the acceptance of it all the same. Who was Molly to be saying anything otherwise?! Harry was just a friend of one of her kids!

"He's less of a right than Sirius!" Lily sneered back, looking quite dangerous herself Harry noted. "Who's Dumbledore to be telling Sirius anything to do with Harry? Merlin, we left Sirius as Harry's Godfather, and even if it's not recognized because of that stupid bloody thing everyone thinks he did, those who do know better should respect it!"

"Dumbledore needs to get a grip on what he thinks everyone needs to know," Remus snapped hatefully. First trying to keep Harry at such a terrible place he didn't want to be at, now trying to enforce Sirius do his dirty work as well, where did the man think he got the right to control them like this?

"I imagine this would be quite a show under most circumstances," James muttered as he was honestly having a bit of a hard time picturing it. Someone they'd never even really met arguing with his best friend about the circumstances of how much his infant son should know about the Order while he wasn't even in the picture.

Sirius came a second too close to snapping, 'thanks for the backup Moony,' but managed to stop himself just in time as it really wasn't fair to be turning his temper on him now when he had just snapped in agreement with him. At least his friend Remus was still acting the same as he should be, whereas they'd still yet to see their friend really taking on his normal roll of anything regarding Sirius or Harry in this twisted future.

"Don't you cut him off just because he's making a good point," James muttered petulantly.

Harry couldn't stop a soft little smile creeping across his face for that. He hadn't even spoken those words to Sirius, and yet his godfather really did seem to know him so well as he'd said the same thing Harry had been thinking for a month.

Sirius looked like he'd just been kicked in the sack. What exactly had he been saying for Molly to insinuate that? Had he really lost a chunk of his mind in Azkaban to really not be able to tell the difference between them sometimes? Sure they looked a lot the same, but he wouldn't really-

James face had been steadily growing more red the more he got out of Molly talking to his brother like that, but the moment he realized she'd just shot the lowest of blows at him he switched to several shades too pale for his normal coloring and stated in a flat, cold voice, "Molly just lost any of my respect."

"Dad!" Harry yelped defensively at once. He couldn't say he was pleased at Molly's coddling of him in this moment, but that was too far for him of someone he cared deeply for.

"I'm not going to let her get away with talking to him like that," James vowed without a change in expression. "Not after all he's been through, what he's still going through."

Harry glanced around beseechingly, but he didn't see anyone who didn't disagree with James. Harry winced as he did admit that Mrs. Weasley had crossed a line with that remark, but Harry still wished they'd cut her some slack as she was speaking out of anger and clearly trying to look out for him even if it was in the wrong way.

Sirius wished he had that same confidence in his future self. Despite how warmed he was James was using that icy tone, that no one in here had even thought to question the remark besides him, he honestly wondered if it was needed as Sirius wasn't as convinced that he wasn't just a bit loose around the edges, if maybe he did sometimes get the two swapped. He'd like to think he never got that bad, but well, twelve years was a long time, and he'd be wishing he had James back now more than ever in that hated place...

Remus suddenly realized they were the only ones enraged over this, and that in fact Sirius was trying to burrow himself into his seat and not looking at anyone, but instead seemed almost guilty of his future actions. James was too distracted by half reading, and half forcing himself not to shout as Remus leaned in to whisper, "Sirius mate, you know that's not happening to you, it never could."

Sirius only nodded as answer, and while he'd have liked more, Remus let it go for now.

Lily had said a lot about Sirius before, but never that, and she was right behind whatever nasty retorts James was interlacing as he forced himself to keep going.

"I'm going to kill Dumbledore doing that to you!" James finally broke and yelled that bit, regretting it instantly as it only started his son crying again. Giving the book a nasty toss aside, he took him from Lily and cradled him in his arms for a moment to calm himself as much as his baby it seemed. "Don't," he said without looking up when he'd seen Harry moving out of the corner of his eye. "I'll get it in a second, just let me," he took a deep breath as he kept his baby to him for an extra second, but now the child had calmed himself back down he didn't seem to want to move again as he nestled into the crook of James neck. Sighing with content, he managed to keep him there while summoning the book back to him, and managed to keep hold of both while forcing himself to keep going. At least now he couldn't lose his temper.

"I'm still struggling to understand where she feels she gets the right to say anything regarding Harry," Remus snarled under his breath as he massaged his temple.

"Remus, if you actually agree with her on this, I will hold you down myself and watch them take your head off," Lily promised.

Remus just nodded silently, knowing he wouldn't fight back. If he really had changed so much he'd side with her over Sirius, then there wasn't anything left of his Marauder heritage. It didn't even matter if he disagreed with Sirius, he should stand by him anyways to her face.

"There's my Moony still in there," James at least seemed to approve of this answer.

Sirius felt a burn vanishing all his ire at her. Suddenly another woman flashed across his mind, of Euphemia Potter saying the same thing about him so many years ago now. He'd realized the Weasley's had unofficially adopted Harry, he just hadn't realized how much it paralleled his own family with the Potters. He hadn't even really been the one so angry with her right now, to worried for his own state of mind and what he could have been seeing while Harry wasn't there, and now he was confident he really couldn't say a word against her. Not after he now saw those fierce hazel eyes claiming him as Molly had just done for Harry.

"The fact that she even needs to ask," Lily's harsh tone came out muffled through her gritted teeth. She'd hated that sting of replacement several times now, but none worse than this where Molly was actively trying to block Sirius from doing his job, what Lily honestly wouldn't even be doing in that moment was hurting so bad she never could have imagined this feeling.

James couldn't actually allow his temper to snap again with his little charge nodding off while still trying to hold onto conscious trying to catch at his father's flyaway hair, so it just wasn't as satisfying watching Lily and Remus look ready to deck her any second like he knew he wanted to. It was least helpful of all Harry, nor Sirius were on the same boat, both were watching the three of them almost pitifully, though neither risking saying anything to the contrary it was clear they didn't fully agree. James didn't understand how Sirius could be so on this woman's side right now, how he wasn't the angriest of them all, and he would demand answers from him once his kid fell asleep and they had a real excuse to pause, but for now he forced himself to read past that moment that shouldn't exist.

"Not one word Sirius, or I'll mute you," Remus promised, his eyes still flashing dangerously as Sirius looked to try cracking a dog joke at a time like this.

"Do you really think he'd say anything against Sirius' side?" James forced himself to ask slowly and calmly, better than starting to shoot curses at someone who wasn't here.

"No, but it was still a valid point," Remus huffed without looking at him, his eyes still focused dangerously on the book. Remus was really hoping that instead of telling Sirius to cool it, he wasn't instead ripping Molly a new one for bringing that up.

"Again, I am going to point out, where does she have the say to be telling Hermione anything," Lily hissed, far past caring she hadn't said much coherent besides that lately, this woman was pushing every last one of her buttons. "It should be up to her own parents to decide!"

Harry honestly felt like maybe Mrs. Weasley could claim there, as perhaps the Grangers had left Mrs. Weasley in charge of their daughter and what all she could know, but that was an honest guess as he had no clue of Hermione's parents relationship with anyone. He was honestly just trying to think of any defense for someone who'd touched him so deeply, but he still couldn't bring himself to undermine his own mother.

"Sadly, the parents original points against their own children still stand," Sirius said under his breath, clearly the only one going to do so, though he had no doubts all those being removed would pounce on Harry the moment he was alone.

"Poor Ginny really doesn't have any kind of excuse," Sirius muttered absently.

"I-he couldn't have said that when they'd be saying that all summer! Why does he cut in now to back them up?" Lily balked at the randomness of this.

"I suppose Mr. Weasley still wouldn't let them into the Order meetings, but now when I'm hopefully just going to get a few questions answered, he thought that was okay than whatever the twins were trying to ask," Harry offered.

"Can't baby them all forever," Lily snapped grimly.

"Now why did he ask you that?" James raised a still fuming brow. "Would have been much stronger if he'd thrown that out not as a question."

"Guess he thought I was still too pissed at him to hold his weight," Harry sighed as some pesky part of his mind snipped he just may not.

"Ouch, Harry sure knows how to get his revenge point across," Remus winced as he watched Harry flinch at such a thing being spoken, he was not proud of that thought.

"I can't see him doing it," James said without looking up, "angry he is, but he's never been petty."

James nodded without surprise while Lily gave her son a pleased smile and Harry basked just for a moment in his parents happiness at that.

Harry gave a light chuckle to himself at that little spitfire, he had no doubts Ginny may well be clever enough to be going through the twins stuff the moment her mother was back out of sight and try to sneak back down with an Extendable Ear.

"What he's usually best at," Sirius gave a halfhearted smile that didn't match the still sour tone of the room.

"I really do love how open ended you are with him," James forced a smile that felt like cracking plaster. At least he'd tried though, and it was as good as any attempt he could make at praising how Sirius was handling his son.

Lily hummed as a stirring of emotions still bothered her for that being true, Dumbledore better show his white beard around soon to explain that mess, but listened eagerly to this news that should have long since been given to her son.

"Well that's nice at least," Remus tried, unintentionally Harry was sure, for the same smile he'd offered him that same night.

"Well don't say it like it's such a bad thing Harry," James muttered.

"Well at least someone's having fun with this," Lily almost managed a smirk for Harry's now bewildered face.

"But I'm glad you did by the way," Sirius inserted as James small face twitch showed Sirius hadn't at the time.

"That really is some brilliant timing though," James really did smile this time. "If we'd been able to do that the first time around, I'm actually positive far more lives could be saved, a lot more could be done to cramp him up more often."

"It's not the one with the most pieces, but the one with the most knowledge," Remus agreed while both his friends rolled their eyes at him and his word wisdom talk again.

"I thought that you put that one together yourself," Lily reminded Harry of his last year and watching Dumbledore give Sirius those orders.

"I was still aiming for more specifics than my guessing," Harry defended.

"I do like how you sidestepped actually giving an answer to that," Sirius told him sarcastically.

"And Harry fell for it," James said tragically, he'd have never let Moony get away with that.

Remus tried his hardest to smother the flinch that gave him, he really hated his job for the Order and had no delusions he'd pick back up on it for Dumbledore's orders.

Harry watched those around him smile without humor at the idea, but then why did he get a nasty little pit swelling inside of him at the idea of that?

"Still can not wrap my head around anyone being that dense," James muttered in disgust as his sons snores began lightly filling his ears, at least encouraging him to keep a gentle volume even while referring back to something he hated.

"He's what now?" Lily demanded like she thought James was playing a joke.

"He's up to trying to save your useless arses," Remus still had his head cokced to the side as he tried to find any other way to interpret this news and coming up short.

There was a moment of silence where you could hear crickets chirping in the background after the stupidity of that statement. None of the others could even think to add anything onto it, and James had to remember how to get past such a new level of stupid to even keep going.

"But he doesn't," Remus said slowly and clearly, trying to form a proper sentence again. "If he did, he'd have done it ages ago."

"I think Fudge and Vernon could form their own group of idiots, but they're too dense to understand how to put together the meeting," Sirius muttered.

"I'd still take her over this dunderhead any day," Lily sniffed, "pull her out of retirement or something, please!"

"I would so love to pay someone to follow him around and try to at least get him to admit that though," James huffed.

"That doesn't even make sense, about anything!" Lily still insisted as if hoping repeating this enough would make anyone see sense.

"Fudge was there when you, when-" Lily had to swallow hard to phrase that without crying from remembrance of what her son had been through, "outside that maze. There just isn't a way possible he could explain that away!"

"Apparently deniability stretches so far it can block even the worst of memories, I almost envy him," Remus stated.

"Just because you're pretending it's not happening doesn't mean it's not," James felt a growl building in his throat as got that out, but the vibrating was already stirring his restless charge and he forced himself to tamper off.

Harry felt a shiver creep up his spine at that idea of so many left unprotected, all the damage Fudge was doing to countless people just because he was afraid. Harry had now seen fear do so many things to people, and yet he still couldn't imagine acting in those same ways.

"Really? That was actually more than I was expecting. You think if- ouch!" He yelped as Remus smacked him hard for making light of that.

"Oh but it would be so much more interesting if I did," Sirius persisted, trying to duck around Moony's swinging hand now, "what better impact than-ouch, Lily!"

Her eyes flashed, threatening to use worse than a stinging hex on him if he kept poking fun at this while his friends still adopted fear filled looks at any mention of this. Sirius honestly just did it as it made him feel better to pretend this was funny than be reminded who had put him in this situation, but held his tongue back nonetheless in hopes the subject would just be changed off of him.

"Remus," James began in agitation.

"What? I'm not wrong," he shot back at once with his arms crossed.

"We still hate the way you phrase that," Lily snipped at him, while he rolled his eyes at the lot of them. There really wasn't a nice way to say it, though they all tried to pretend otherwise.

Harry was just gazing sadly at Remus for a moment as an extra surge of hatred flashed for Snape, Skeeter, and everyone else who had been making Remus' name so public of late. It's no wonder if he'd been doing worse since he'd left Hogwarts, he clearly had a hard life without people automatically reacting to his name.

James had to cut off his snort of amusement with a small cough instead as he turned worried eyes on Sirius, though at least his best friend tried to play that off as a joke again. "Now I wonder how that meeting went? Would really hope I sat in on that one, though do you think it's too much to ask Kingsley to start spreading word of just how dumb it is to be looking for me at all?"

"Well my liking for Kingsley just went up tenfold," Remus muttered.

"Bleh, no way could I survive out there, I couldn't stand replacing my diet with yak milk."

"I am going to smack you," Lily promised him.

"Ah," they all muttered, at least Dumbledore was doing something besides annoying the piss out of all of them.

"Can they actually take that away once it's given to you?" Harry frowned at a rather mean blow in his opinion.

"Only if they can prove he didn't rightfully earn it in the first place," James shrugged without much care.

"That sounds like Dumbledore," Remus muttered almost wistfully, still half hoping to hear the return of the headmaster they knew and trusted rather than this control freak ruining both Harry and Sirius' life of late.

"I think you all need a few good laughs," James mumbled pitifully, wondering when his friends had fallen out of that business, knowing it had happened at the point he'd stopped being around turning them into these cold, barely recognizable people.

"I'm honestly not convinced that place could hold him," Lily said mostly to herself, "or more over, that they could get him there."

"Can't deny it would be a show to watch them try though," Remus sighed without any humor.

"Yeah, he only did that to Crouch, and that didn't seem to work out too well for him," Sirius finished himself with a roll of his eyes, then went cross eyed as he realized what he did.

James was just ignoring him at this point.

"Now you're asking the real questions," Lily said a bit eagerly, her boys reacting that way must mean Harry was starting to scratch at what supposedly was too much information.

"Damn that woman!" Sirius barked in frustration, causing all of them to jump, though thankfully the baby slept on. "If I want to tell Harry every little detail, would you just let me get on with it."

"You're just pissed because she cut in at the good part," Harry softly rebuked.

Sirius shrugged as he wasn't going to deny that while the others were just happy to see their normal Sirius again agreeing with them.

"Actually, I'm sure she can right to your own place," Lily muttered tersely, in no mood to defend her, especially to the twins, but that one had come out on impulse.

"Please, please just ignore her and keep right on going," Remus placed his hands together and actually pleaded, there was no way she could actually cut off there when that had been a real answer for once!

"Remus James Lupin, I am renouncing your middle name just for that," James huffed at him, though his eyes were too dark for the joke, it was clear he didn't actually find it funny Moony had switched sides.

"You know I hate it when you call me that you twit," Remus huffed, though there was no force to his return, he felt bad himself like he'd give himself a good smack as well.

"Exactly why he did it," Sirius pointed out as he slumped back into his seat with a pout.

Remus turned on him and was fixing to start a snip right back, but Lily cut them off by telling them to hush so that James could hopefully find out just a little bit more.

"Honestly I don't see why though," Remus butted in, whether to keep in his friends good graces or honestly meaning it they weren't sure. Honestly it was just a sight to watch him argue with himself for a moment no one was going to stop him. "I think some spies in school would be just as useful, could surprise the lot of them how much you learn in that castle."

"Well I won't say I'm not pleased they haven't stepped that far yet," Lily rolled her eyes, thinking telling Harry these things was one thing, but actually going full through with making him an official member and expecting him to do work for them while in school really was pushing it. There did still have to be some priorities.

James face puckered as he honestly struggled to imagine that. Not his Padfoot, who had to be almost physically restrained from backing down from any fight, who only did so while still grumbling that he hadn't gotten his last say in like he was still doing now for his and Remus' tiff. The dynamic between Remus and Sirius' friendship had clearly changed just as much as the two themselves, and James was sick of hearing about these strangers passing as his friends.

"Chapter's done," James announced as he gave the book another careless toss away, and got up to put his infant down for a proper nap.

HPHPHPHPHPHP

There's a lot of Molly lovers, and a lot of Molly haters, and most of them all center around this chapter. Really, like with Ron in the last book, there's no way to make everyone happy, but I do hope you enjoyed this chapter and what I ultimately had them all feeling for her. I won't deny this chapter truly did annoy me, as Sirius is given so much crap from Molly and Dumbledore telling him how to treat Harry when in every way possible it should be Sirius' decision. This will be the worst of what's said about her, I did promise and I will never break that promise that this'll never hit bashing territory for any character. Everyone gets a fair shake with me, as everyone does have their hi and low points.

* You know, I'm actually not sure what that is supposed to be. Probably is something random we're just never told about. I kicked around a few ideas, like the Ministry for one though I can't come up with a reason why they'd need building plans for that place since people from the Ministry work there, but I suppose it could be documents of the Department of Mysteries, but I honestly doubt those plans exist and no one of the Order's been inside there, so I'd love some suggestions of other places those plans could be.

**I'm aware that Sirius technically was 'the first of thirteen to rise and so the first to die,' in that moment, but honestly it'll never be brought up by my characters as they won't be digging past the moment to realize that. Just something fun I enjoyed seeing someone point out once.


	6. NOBLE AND MOST ANCIENT HOUSE OF BLACK

This chapter title always bugged me. We already had a chapter title referencing this house, was a second one really needed? I'm not saying it should have been called The Cleaning or something, but still. I do appreciate the irony that the chapter about the Nobel house is showing it's decay, so maybe the last one could have been The Reunion or something, I don't know, I'll shut up now. Happy Spring Break!

HPHPHPHP

James came back down the stairs to find they were already trying to wrangle together some kind of answer for this 'weapon' that was clearly the big deal with keeping Harry in the dark, but no one was getting very far. Remus and Sirius kept breaking off to take shots at each other, and Harry kept giggling at every crack they made making Lily smile indulgently and occasionally throw her own witty retort in before someone tried to push them back on track. James remembered his promise to try and dig some answers out of his brother for the way he'd been acting regarding Molly in the last chapter, but suddenly he just couldn't bring himself to do it right now. James just leaned against the banister for a moment and watched them all, his two friends who would soon be so unrecognizable to him, his wife and now grown son and the fate hanging over their heads. The goosebumps erupting over his flesh as the chills traced him gave him a nice kick to jump in and force past that moment he never wanted to live without them.

Lily had to dig the book out from under the recliner where it had fallen and give it a toss at Sirius' face to cut him off for the last time, "you've said that three times now, no Sirius it is not Voldemort's plan to string together troll hairs for anything, now would you read."

Sirius pouted up at her and honestly considerd sitting on the book just to force his point home, but honestly he really was just as curious to see the real answer so he flipped to the correct page while telling Lily how much potential she was wasting by cutting him off.

James didn't try to hide his pleased smile as he watched his brother treating Lily how he should have been treating Molly, at least he got to see the proper response once.

"That's ridiculous, she looks nothing like me," Sirius sniffed, enjoying for the moment being able to hold the book and make that joke so he could smirk at Harry's chuckle.

Lily still couldn't stop a nasty scowl in place as Molly kept trying to baby those teenagers.

"If Ginny has actually gone to sleep, than we have drastically misjudged her," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Well both us, and the twins can't be wrong, that is impossible," James smirked.

"And the paranoia levels are still rising," Sirius rolled his eyes at this display. So what if a few owls started hunting in the area, no one who spotted and cared could still get in, or honestly would think much of it as owls had a large hunting range.

Sirius nodded to himself like that made absolutely perfect sense while Harry was still wondering if his friend and godfather were being a bit paranoid themselves now.

"I'd be worried for your mental health if you did," Remus agreed.

"That's true," James pouted at the two like it was really all their fault. "What's gotten into you two? You should have started with that weapon the moment Molly was out of sight."

"I honestly have no defense for myself," Sirius sighed while Remus agreed.

"Most people do for some reason," Lily rolled her eyes.

"I'm fairly confident the crack was louder than the yelp of pain," Harry smirked, finding it utterly amusing not one person was surprised to hear the twins making a reappearance like this.

"Actually, you referred to it as a weapon Harry," Lily corrected as she really thought it all through now. "Sirius just didn't correct you, which either means you guessed right-"

"or dead wrong," James finished for her as he really picked apart Sirius' word choice.

"All we really know is it's something he doesn't have this time," Remus huffed, "that doesn't really tell us anything."

"I love that he's naive enough to be asking that," James whispered mostly to himself while staring hard at his wife.

"I really don't even think it's that kind of weapon," Lily shook her head. "It must be something he needs to get more power, and something to kill just isn't that hard to come by."

"Maybe there's another Philosopher's Stone out there?" Remus offered.

"He'd have no more use for that," James waved him off. "He can get himself plenty rich, and clearly he's already reached some level or immortality from not having died when he should have."

"It must be something that doesn't even exist yet," Sirius sighed, "otherwise we should know about it now."

Harry was starting to get a horrible feeling every time this was mentioned now, beads of sweat spreading across his brow and leaning in very close to his godfather. Before anyone could say anymore, he practically pleaded, "does it make you all feel better if I say I'm convinced right now I find out what it is, and we can move on?"

They all watched him with deep worry for a moment, it wasn't at all comforting that this topic was causing him so much pain just to be poked at and they suddenly decided they may not want to know if it involved that look on Harry's face without the memory to reinforce it. So Sirius gave Harry a reassuring pat and decided to do just that.

Sirius' voice hitched as he was forcefully reminded his little pup had lived through that experience.

"Well I'd assume it was someone we trust, otherwise we wouldn't be worried about Voldemort getting it," Remus pointed out.

"Let's hope it's not being hidden at Hogwarts again," Lily huffed, clearly still bitter about that Stone.

"Hid is the wrong word, since apparently everyone in the world knew what and where it was seeing as Harry was implied to have supposed to figure that out on purpose," James rolled his eyes.

"Not necessarily," Sirius disagreed, still sometimes wishing Ron was here so that he could turn and say those kinds of things to him.

They all laughed happily for that comparison, Lily hardest of all.

"Oh I remember that spell being mentioned," Sirius' eyes brightened at once, "I've been meaning to ask for ages, did you two ever ask Hermione to teach you that one?"

Harry's laughter doubled as he agreed she had indeed, though the two had honestly thought the incantation was her idea of a joke, but it had worked when they'd tried it. Seems Ginny had taken to it even more than her brother. Harry wondered who the Marauder's first victim would be on this new to them spell.

"That woman," Lily rolled her eyes with an honest touch of fondness as all of the boys exchanged an indulgent smile at that nostalgia.

"Yes, I'm so sure Molly won't find that cracking noise suspicious," Remus snorted.

"And what if they were?" James snapped at once. "What's she going to do then, come in and give them a spanking for staying up talking."

Harry wished he was playing off a joke, but the dangerous tone he still carried meant he wasn't cutting any slack for her, especially in regards to him.

"Says the boys, doing exactly what they're not supposed to be doing," Sirius muttered for Harry alone, who was at least pleased to see a small smile on him. James threw the two a sour look for clearly trying to smother some humor.

"Err, is Buckbeak there or something?" Remus asked.

"Actually that's a good question," Sirius suddenly looked a little concerned, "where is that hippogriff? I don't see why I would have kept him around for a whole year but then not have wanted to keep him, but that's not exactly a friendly place for the beast."

"I'm sure Buckbeak's fine," Harry soothed with a soft smile, he found it adorable how concerned Sirius was for the beast and had a sneaking suspicion Sirius would enjoy the answer.

"Oh, he's dreaming," James realized.

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Sirius snorted without looking up, "here I thought Hagrid had snuck into the room to tell Harry this."

"That was probably one of the most normal dreams you've ever had," Lily giggled.

"It does make some sense as Hagrid's been known to let information slip before, so if he does know the answer to this mystery thing I'd put money Hagrid'll help you figure it out," Remus agreed.

"Fascinating," Sirius pouted, now honestly wishing he could hand over the book to Harry early or something, he had no want to read of this place even if it did give him some small pleasure to hear of the disrepair it was in. He resisted the impulse though, he'd forced himself to read through worse, that stupid house wasn't even so bad as other things.

"I'm surprised she trusts them to be around such fearsome and dangerous creatures without having them all in bubblewrap," James huffed.

"I'm impressed you know what bubblewrap is," Lily tried to poke fun in favor of agreeing, at least trying to break out of her own bad mood at any mention of her.

James remained in a fuming silence, so Lily worked out for herself who must have introduced that to him.

"Seems without dear old Mum around, Kreacher takes the Black name to new levels with that house," Sirius sniffed in disgust. He did find it a bit odd, he'd have thought that vermin would keep the place as pristine as his favored Mistress had always wanted it, but he supposed without direction the old thing would circle into the useless state Sirius had always claimed he was. He could live with that.

"Now that would be an interesting argument," Remus smirked at the thought.

"I think I found out what you're doing with Buckbeak," Remus blinked in surprise.

"Either that, or I'm fixing to get some really interesting revenge on Molly," Sirius agreed.

"Still okay with this," Sirius chuckled.

"There are so many ways I can laugh about this, I can't decide which to chose," James blinked spastically while Sirius chose outright joy and promptly fell back against his seat laughing so hard his face was turning red.

Lily watched his amusement fondly, but she was honestly a bit saddened by it as well. What had his mother done to him that would cause him to be so bitter and happy about this petty insult. She couldn't help her mind flicking back to Molly. If this is what Molly saw of Sirius from the beginning, she almost empathized with the woman who only saw the face of Sirius and his careless ways. She hadn't taken the time to get to know him, and really would just see the reckless man who thought of nothing but himself. It didn't excuse the way she'd spoken to him though, not by a long shot, so she forced herself to stop thinking about the matter.

Sirius was trying to speak in a light way as well, he didn't want to get his friends yelling about her again, nor did he want to dwell on it himself.

"But who doesn't want to announce their arrival like that," Remus rolled his eyes.

James was still so rankled he wanted to shoot something at Molly just for that tiny little thing.

Sirius sighed, and to redirect something he could feel coming, he instead threw out, "well someone's definitely still on guard duty over something, and they're hiding, why else would they need a cloak around?"

The others didn't disagree, but no one played along in speculating with him, Harry just because he had no more new information and an already building headache at the idea of this thing again.

"Why does she still have that?" Remus sputtered in disgust.

"The information is still right, even if he did steal it from someone else," Harry reminded.

"Did you never tell her, or Dumbledore never told anyone about him?" James asked as they hadn't heard anything about it otherwise.

"I never did," Harry shrugged, he hadn't taken much of an interest in Lockhart after he'd left school, though it did leave Harry wondering why he thought he might see him again.

The others hoped that at least Dumbledore had informed the public of that sham, preferably putting some kind of charges on Lockhart in the process for what he'd done.

"Did Ron get bitten by anything last year?" Sirius randomly asked as he remembered his first three years. "I think a pattern got broke, and I'll be disappointed if it doesn't pick up again."

"Sirius, you were the last thing to bite Ron," Harry reminded sadly, causing Sirius to quickly decide the change the subject, as he had not forgotten that.

"What's she going to do with them afterwards?" Harry asked.

"Probably toss them outside and let them find somewhere else to nest," Lily shrugged.

"She won't even let them properly investigate what they're spraying? They could be trying to educate themselves on these little things," Sirius told with a wide eyed expression Harry was sure never fooled a single teacher.

"What is he doing though?" Lily asked in confusion, this had gone from playfully joking around to them clearly up to something.

"Fingers crossed Harry asks," James said eagerly.

Remus at once tried to lean over and see what this new mischief was about, but Sirius just as quickly pushed his face back away and ducked protectively over the book to read on loudly at this already brilliant name, he had no doubts it would be followed up with some new invention of the twins he was going to love!

Lily's mouth was hanging open by the end and Sirius just had to stop for a moment to marvel at this.

"That is, brilliant," Remus managed to get out first, blinking spastically as he thought through it. "I've never heard of that, yet the idea is so-"

"This is the best idea ever!" James shouted as he began bouncing in his spot. "My word how did we never come up with this? It's fantastic!"

Sirius didn't even look like he wanted to keep going, all the boys were clearly fixing to have a full blown chat about the ideas of this and what could have gone into such a thing while still praising the twins genius, so Lily had to clear her throat hard to keep them on track. Sirius did eagerly return though, he wanted to know more!

"Testers?" James repeated with a grin, wondering of which brother had befallen this trick first.

"A fair assumption, along with those banging noises I remember being mentioned coming from their rooms," Lily grinned indulgently. "Clearly this has been a long standing practice to try their material on each other."

"I'd be insulted if it wasn't by this point," Remus' shoulders kept shaking he was trying to force himself to stay quiet enough through his laughter so Sirius wouldn't stop.

"That's the best start they could ask for," James agreed at once. "Can't start too big, they still look to inexperienced. I've no doubts it's going swimmingly though!"

This clearly didn't impress anyone but Harry, who found the gesture oddly nice, and a blessing as it saved him from hearing about another row that could land him and the twins in some very hot water.

"And I still don't care," James said nastily.

"Dad," Harry groaned for the tone.

"Nope," he snapped back at once, not budging an inch.

"James, I'm still angry to, but don't antagonize him," Lily sighed to cut off Harry who really may have said something back.

James just rolled his eyes while Harry was still looking sadly at the pair of them.

Most of them got a revengeful giggle out of that, the Marauders more than anything as they really were wondering if this emphasis Sirius had on killing rats of late had some not so subtle meaning.

"They were shown to have grabbed at least two each by now," Remus raised a curious brow, "and I'm still not even sure what they think they're going to use Doxy venom for. It dosen't cause vomiting, so I'm sure they should be good."

"I'm positive they've been at it long enough they won't raise suspicion to their mother," Sirius assured.

"They might be using them for a new pill," James offered, "after all, if they've already got one almost out of the testing stages, then they're probably right on track with the next, maybe it'll cause some kind of fever since that's what doxy venom is known to do."

"You would be correct," Sirius sighed, clearly not noticing more than anyone else Harry's sudden unease about those cabinets.

"Just put them all in a playpen and put up baby gates everywhere, I'm sure that'll hold them," James mocked.

"Glory that man has a death wish," Lily's brows began creeping into her hairline. "Dragging that stuff there, isn't that what he went to do instead of watching you? With Molly and Sirius already there and in bad moods."

"This could turn into a bloodbath," James agreed, though he didn't sound particularly concerned.

Sirius suddenly paused with a stupid smirk in place, and Remus and James were already bracing themselves as Sirius turned to Harry and said, "hey pup, what does your best mate and those have in common?"

At Harry's blank look, Sirius continued on in the same breath, "they're both called Ron!"

It took a moment, Harry mouthed the word again to himself, then his eyes brightened and he laughed like Sirius had just made another pun about his own name.

The others were honestly beginning to wonder if Harry may be faking that to indulge Sirius, it couldn't really be that funny? Sirius clearly didn't care though as he kept reading cheerfully.

"I'm sure Percy and his Cauldron Bottom report would just love to get his hands on this," Remus snorted.

"Doesn't seem like she likes much of anything," James muttered.

"Why would they want to?" Sirius had an odd smile in place as he was picturing the carnage to come. "Don't they get enough of their mum yelling? I'd think they'd enjoy from a distance her turning on someone else."

"They're not going to be discussing anything about the Order anytime soon, but better safe than sorry I suppose," Remus shrugged.

"There it is," James nodded without surprise.

"Is that all she's going to do though, shout?" Sirius pouted. "I really was hoping she'd do a bit more, like hex him."

"I'm sure that's where you'll step in," Remus chuckled.

"Again, even against his will, it is Sirius' place," James sniffed. "Don't see how she can say all that."

"You know you'd agree with her at the moment," Lily scolded softly, keeping her eyes on the book intently. "Stop being petty and listen."

James was still scowling but shut his trap.

"Poor boys have learned that from experience," Remus winced for them.

"Oh joy," Sirius' interest vanished at once as he realized the topic was getting switched off of yelling about Dung. He'd rather Harry snuck out now to keep watching what Molly did best, this one was going to be far worse.

"Most elves act invisible actually," James told Harry, "that's how they're trained. It really is odd this is the first one you're properly interacting with."

"Wouldn't have been my first choice," Sirius grumbled.

Everyone was angry by the end of that rotten little speech, though all for entirely different reasons, at least Sirius didn't feel bad about how he was now reading as if speaking about his own mother and no one was going to tell him off for it, they all saw entirely why.

"Don't know why he bothered," Sirius grumbled, "he turns around and says it to their faces again anyways."

"I can't believe he really says all that," Lily sighed.

"Why do you think my mother prefered him over me?" Sirius reminded with a hard look. "I refused to say any of that, yet he went around saying it all the time."

"Why'd he call him master?" Harry asked, his burning hatred of Kreacher still at the top with everyone else, completely ignoring any other feelings he might have for the thing.

"He is a pureblood," Remus reminded, "so he does it on instinct. It won't hold wait for anyone but Sirius though."

"Wish I didn't," James grumbled, he'd only met Kreacher in person once, and he'd never again laughed at thinking his friend exaggerated this thing.

"Those unnatural little beasts are the most brilliant thing that's ever existed," Remus scoffed, "so Kreacher clearly has no idea what true talent is."

"I much prefer cursing him, but laughing in his face is a good start," Sirius agreed.

Harry kept watching his Godfather curiously, like he was hoping he'd answer that, but Sirius decided the less he spoke about Kreacher, the less swear words that would be involved, so the less Lily would keep glaring at him.

Sirius still despised having to say that, if there was one thing he'd punish Kreature for saying outright it was that, stupid thing was lucky he wasn't in the room to hear that one.

"It's always nice to not be recognized," Harry grumbled as he still glared hatefully at the book for referring to his friend like that.

Sirius got all that out through gnashing his teeth in frustration, oh he had a very good idea what his Mum would say to Hermione, and Lily.

"Always love Ron's automatic defense of her," James smiled, "now Ginny's joined in."

"I think they've shared a room two summers in a row now," Lily reminded fondly, "I suppose they've grown a bit close."

"I can not believe she's actually defending this thing," Sirius grumbled with disgust.

"So, were we meant to hear that, or is he talking to himself some more?" Harry asked.

"If he answers you without the insults, he's actually answering," Sirius huffed.

"More like moved the body back to the gutter," Lily rolled her eyes.

"There's my Padfoot!" James beamed upon hearing that.

"Can't believe it's taken you this long to play a joke on your name," Remus agreed affectionately.

Sirius didn't seem to plesased with himself for now, though the shock of his friends actually indulging him in doing this was more than enough to pull him into a slightly less bad mood.

"Wasn't much of one to break," he inserted with a mutter.

"Sirius, please don't parrot yourself," Lily groaned. "No one wants to hear that twice."

"Not my fault it was so true it deserved to be said twice," Sirius smirked.

Harry really felt a lot of sympathy towards Sirius more with every word he spoke. Had his mother really said all that to his face, repeatedly? Enough he said it again without much more care in his voice than of normally speaking about an elf he hated so much.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Remus said deadpan, though they all looked to Harry in concern when he flinched at that for seemingly no reason.

"Don't know what he's bothering with," Sirius rolled his eyes, "I already know that things got another Permanent Sticking Charm on it."

"Do I want to know how you know that?" Lily asked with honest curiosity.

"Nope," he said simply, popping the p for emphasis.

Sirius frowned uncertainly as he phrased it like that. The memory was clear as day in his own mind, but the idea it may have faded all together while he was in Azkaban was only one of the disturbing things he'd realized he'd soon be experiencing.

"Several colorful things, quite centered around Kreacher, though I'm sure she'd find a way to throw my name in there even before I came back," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Wish he was," Remus muttered so only Sirius could here.

"So that makes it alright for thinking it?" James demanded with a poisonous brow.

"Don't know what stopped me from doing it the second I walked in there though before this could start," Sirius huffed.

"I'm actually worried it would be the same reason Dumbledore's telling to keep you in there dear," Lily said tentatively, already feeling bad for him being in such a bad mood, but she had been wondering the same thing of him. "If you set him free of you, he'd immediately go running off to the next person in line who he thought should have him, like the Malfoy's. Do you really want Voldemort knowing you've been to your house recently, a place where you were looking into Headquarters."

Sirius' face flushed with frustration as he couldn't work a way to argue that point, but he still snapped back his other point, "that doesn't change how stupid it is to keep me in there all the time! We're in the exact same circumstance as last year, what's the sudden need to force me to stay in!"

Lily did not want to start an actual argument with him, and as he was near shouting at the end it was clearly headed that way, but she also was hoping that maybe someone explaining this to him would lessen his mood just a bit as she pointed out, "well no actually, the big difference is Voldemort is back now. You can't go back to those mountains, not with, him, knowing them just as well as you. Can't stay at Remus' place as he's more than likely being watched by Death Eaters as well just waiting for you to arrive."

"Dosen't mean I have to be there!" Sirius seethed, a vein starting to thump with frustration against his temple. "Pick any vacant house in London and I'd rather be there!"

"Would you really though?" Her voice kept growing quieter the louder his was getting. "Away from even those meetings that you'd rarely visit at that place, kept even further out of the loop, and so far away you couldn't get visitors or even help if it came to that."

Sirius was physically chewing on his tongue to stop himself shouting back at Lily that didn't make this right, but he seemed to have run out of comebacks for now as he turned back to the pages.

The others had watched the exchange with silent fascination, Remus in particular wondering if this had been the exact same way Dumbledore had handled Sirius into being there.

"You don't have to say that with so much pleasure," Lily sighed, which Sirius blatantly ignored.

"What does that translate to?" Harry asked cautiously, as Sirius still seemed likely to explode any second.

"Always Pure," James answered for him as Sirius was still trying to pretend the others weren't in the room.

James still winced as he remembered how his brother had turned up that night. Harry was dying to ask for details, but Sirius was still in such a foul mood he wasn't sure if he'd get it or continue being ignored.

James and Sirius both winced at the reminder while Lily placed her hand lovingly over her husbands. James' parents had only passed away the previous year from Dragon Pox, and it was still sharp to both boys. They hadn't even lived long enough to meet their only grandchild. Lily was still happy James had never suggested giving their son his father's name, it would have been too hard to tell him no.

"Thought that was obvious," Sirius sniffed which sounded a bit more watery than he meant it to.

Remus couldn't even bring himself to break the tension with a joke about Sirius' vanity, it was still a horrid reminder Sirius didn't even come close to keeping his appearances up like he did now, their Padfoot would never let his hair get anywhere near unkempt.

Sirius felt something just wilt inside him at the news that his brother wasn't even alive. Or at least, he wouldn't be in a very short time, as it was nearing the end of October now. He wasn't even sure why he was so surprised, he'd told that little idiot the day he'd found out he was going to join the Death Eater's he'd meet a fast end, and Regulus had just laughed him off. That had been the last time Sirius had seen his brother...and now Sirius realized he wasn't going to see him again. Because a quick math problem told him right now, that the year of his death was this year.

"Sirius?" James whispered softly, not really sure if he even wanted to get his attention, but willing to do anything to get rid of that blank look on his brother's face.

Sirius shook himself, blinking several times before he put up a smile no one believed. He tisked and put as much carelessness in his voice as he could muster, which wasn't much even to his own ears, "why should I care? Told him this was going to happen, and he told me to f' off. S'not like I care," he finished with a mutinous huff, clearly failing at believing that himself as much as he was trying to convince the others.

Sirius still managed to read that with a burning hatred that he'd yet had the pleasure of turning on his parents, but now he would be very, very soon. Those idiots had gotten his little brother killed by convincing him it was a good idea to do this, filling his head with lies from the age he was born. Of course it was his own fault as well, weak willed little shit he was who'd never bothered telling their parents no, or anyone for that matter.

Sirius was becoming so twitchy at this topic that he was beginning to fall under the threat of tearing pages out, but he was also clearly refusing to hand the book over as well.

Sirius heard someone choking in shock for that news, but he continued reading on loudly over whoever so that he could hope for more, his mind just couldn't grasp the little idiot earning that pleasure.

Sirius couldn't force himself to keep going for a moment, just sitting there in stupor as he realized, he'd done it. His brother had actually tried to take a step back, out, to leave all that. Where the hell had he been when this was happening? What if Regulus had tried to reach out to him, right now, would he listen? His instant answer was yes of course, but this was now knowing that he'd got killed for clearly trying. Yesterday, before he'd heard this from his own mouth? Perhaps not, as he'd just think it was some ploy.

He was almost grateful when Remus cut into his train of thought by demanding, "Sirius, how on Earth would you know that?"

Sirius had to blink a few times, and shook his head to clear it as he muttered, "no clue. I certainly never heard of this now. Maybe I really did go looking him up after I got out of, well after. Trying to think of someone I'd trust to both know this and I'd ask, and maybe it was from Andromeda."

"That makes sense," James agreed fairly. "You've mentioned she still stays in touch with her sisters, Narcissa anyways, and I'll bet they've said something about this and maybe you ask her."

Sirius wasn't as keen on the idea, as Andromeda's contact with her sisters was the reason Sirius didn't go around seeing her much. He was never sure how much he could entirely trust her, as he absolutely did not trust Narcissa at all, but Dromeda still sent frequent owls to her favorite sister. Sirius had no clue if Lucius even knew about it, he'd asked and Andromeda had always said Cissy had never exclusively said anything about it. Still, the woman had stayed married to a Muggle-born and had one hell of a daughter, so Sirius did hope he'd get back in contact with his favorite cousin, and he guessed he could still count on her for some kind of information about his little brother.

"Lovely," Lily squidged up her face in disgust while her husband moved a few inches closer to her.

"I still don't understand sticking them up on a wall," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Trophies of how many generations the house has carried," Sirius said without any of his usual mocking, or voice imitation, or anything to really show he even realized he'd answered. His eyes were still vacant.

"It can't just be the tapestry though," James disagreed, "otherwise he wouldn't take Orders from you as well."

"Guess it is marginally more specific than that," Sirius agreed restlessly, his thoughts still on a brother he'd disowned and was now bitterly regretting. "It has to be my surname or nothing, unless he so chooses."

Sirius wondered what Andromeda had been thinking while he'd been accused those twelve years of his crime. Had she believed he'd been fooling everyone as well? Or had his years in showing his approval of her husband kept her convinced and she just hadn't been able to do anything for him? Neither answer was comforting, as he still couldn't forget the one person who had believed it all, and Remus should know him better than anyone.

"Because I always love that reminder," Sirius sneered.

"Does that magically update itself, or were your parents alive to add that?" Harry asked.

"Magically," Sirius replied, though still unsure of when his parents had kicked away, the answer was still true.

"Reminding me that I'm technically related to him as well," Harry groaned.

"About as much as I am, and I don't even make the list," James said with chipper. "Potters got labeled as blood traitors way back when all of this nasty business was still being developed, so we hardly even get recognized at it, yet we still manage a pureblood lineage. I still claim it's by accident more than anything."

James couldn't help a little wince Sirius hadn't used him as an example. He supposed it was easier, them being right there in the room, but he also wondered if it didn't have more to do with the fact it must hurt Sirius something terrible to still say his name.

Harry felt a nasty, creeping feeling rising up inside of him at Sirius mentioning her.

"Voldemort mentioned them," Remus quietly reminded, causing Harry to wince but acknowledge with a nodd that must be where this bad feeling was coming from. They were still in Azkaban, obviously he had no connection to her.

"Oh wow," James blinked in surprise. "Didn't even occur to me that was her, though it does explain the nutjob qualities of that woman."

Sirius wished he could join along, mock back the situation, but he really was finding it harder with every line to pretend enthusiasm at this topic of his heritage.

"That's not where you remember her name from, they didn't mention any of them by name in that," Lily gently reminded.

"I just put them together like that," Harry agreed.

'No, they're all dead,' Sirius hated the nasty little thought that flitted through his mind, but then he glanced to either side of him and amended, 'not all of them.'

Sirius still hated the hitch that tore through his throat as he was once again reminded of that, it seemed to manage to hurt worse every single time, though not nearly as bad as watching those around him flinch because of it.

Lily felt like she'd been smacked in the face for ever suggesting it was a good idea for Sirius to be in there now. Safety reasons be damned if Harry comparing his life to how Sirius' must look in that moment, and his tone completely agreed with Harry's comparison. She'd vouch for him living at Hogwarts in the boys dormitory then before she'd push him into that place. "Sirius, I'm so sorry, I never should have said it was any good for you to be there, I just-"

"It's alright Lils," he grunted, though he did meet her eyes so he clearly wasn't really that mad still. "I was more pissed I couldn't think of anything to argue back, probably can't with Dumbledore either which is probably why it's working."

Lily flushed, she didn't want to be compared to Dumbledore right now as angry as she was with him. She still wanted to tell him of her idea he just stay at Hogwarts, but Sirius seemed to find that conversation done as he kept going.

"Wait, he can do that?" Remus face puckered in confusion.

"That doesn't make any sense," Lily agreed uneasily, suddenly tense in her husband's arms of all that this made them wonder. "If the person can be Secret Keeper, then why weren't James or I just one? I was going off the assumption you couldn't live at the house to be one, no offense Sirius love," she quickly added.

Sirius waved that off, he completely agreed, but he couldn't unlock his jaw to any more than scowl hatefully into the fireplace for the reminder of this.

"Maybe this time they just had more time to test the idea and figure this out," Harry offered uneasily, he could already tell they all just wanted to move on from this topic, but it was a good question, and one that he'd been wondering himself. "When you two used it for the first time, you did say Mum it was a lost spell Dumbledore must have come across and put up spur of the moment. Didn't have time to test the idea past well, using the first volunteer or-" he broke off as he couldn't play this off anymore or ignore the building growl coming from all the boys.

Sirius got the gist of Harry's idea, and it did make sense, so he forced himself to keep reading loudly before he started digging a hole in Lily's carpet to get out of here.

"I wish you wouldn't," James hated having to say it while Sirius was looking to his breaking point any second now, as literally every topic he hated hearing had all come up in this one chapter! Throw in some mentions of dementors and Snape and he'd hit the jackpot. Still, that didn't stop him reminding, "there are enchantments all over that place to stop people from concealing themselves inside there Pads, you know that. We've never tested the idea an Animagus can get through there unchecked."

"Maybe we should," Sirius insisted, his eyes too bright, but just wanting to think of anything good for a moment, and being there for Harry was certainly one of them. "Send in Mcgonagall first, have her scope out the place as a tabby with Dumbledore, or some other member of the Order for some cock n bull reason like-"

"You're assuming she's in the Order," Remus reminded, "she's not this time around, though Dumbledore trusts her. What makes you think she is the second time?"

Sirius sat there stumped for a moment, then finally snapped and barked at him, "can't I just have one good idea for one second!"

Remus raised his hands in surrender while Sirius turned fumingly back to the pages.

"Look Lily, some of what you say does get through to him," James forced a smile none of them felt, when were they going to leave this house already? Sirius acting like this was really dragging them all down.

"I have no idea," Sirius informed his future self, even if he did have an odd look in place for doing so.

"Yes, how dare they have a private moment," James sneered.

"How does she keep managing to have the worst timing," Remus agreed with him, "one more second, and Sirius would have asked for details about that!"

"Wartcap powder," Lily quietly told Harry before he could ask, "used in a lot of fire protection potions."

"I can see why they'd have a use for that," Remus smiled to himself, "I'm convinced they must have set a few accidental fires in their time, and that's not particularly easy to come by."

Lily shivered at the idea of that thing, and managing to find it extra fascinating Ginny had been the one to fight off such a thing. Guess the poor girl must have an extra sense now of things trying to charm her into submission.

The moment Sirius read that, Harry felt such a huge wave of nausea and vertigo, he actually momentarily blacked out for a moment. He came back peering at the book in shock, his hand pressed hard to his temple as he tried to understand where that had come from. The last time he'd felt something so powerful, was when he'd heard about Ginny's diary...but what did this have to do with that? He wondered if he was finally cracking, if his memories were just getting so disjointed that he could no longer separate what he was hearing now and what he may be feeling in the future. He refused to linger on it, waving off everyone's concern and promising he wasn't pushing at anything as he insisted Sirius just go on.

Harry suddenly didn't think of that award in the same way if it really could be handed out all willy nilly like that.

"He had a real talent for that at least," Sirius agreed with any resemblance of fondness he was positive he could ever foster for that thing. "Taught me most of my vocabulary."

"Great, now I dislike him as much as you," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Fascinating to walk in on I'm sure," Remus tried for a genuine smile.

"Well sometimes you manage to mess up the first pot, and it becomes a real hassle to hunt down another, I really can see him taking some time," James agreed fairly, not one of them held any humor for that, not after Aragog.

Harry had many times believed and thought that Hogwarts felt like a living presence to him, but he wasn't as happy to be thinking the same about this old place.

"Sirius!" Lily tried to groan in rebuke, but it came out more as a sigh of acceptance she just couldn't fight him on this.

"Wish I could do that to everyone who calls my friends and family that," he replied easily.

"There's a relief," James groaned, he had to stand that guy enough at school, no need to add to his ever growing list outside of the place.

"Ha!" Sirius barked as he waved a triumphant finger into Moony's face.

Remus took the prod in the nose from that with acceptance, though he did still wonder what the difference was in Dumbledore including her that time but not now. Though maybe she was a member now, in deep secret that they didn't even know about. He couldn't imagine what the motive for that would be, but he wouldn't be surprised if there were secret Order members they didn't know about either.

Remus winced, but no one looked very surprised except Harry. He was dying to ask just what this 'work' was, but even judging from how pail he'd gone now and a look he'd grown accustomed to seeing over them all at any mention of his lycanthropy, Harry thought he had a pretty good guess, so why bother him over it for details.

"How could you not want to keep that feature?" Remus asked in a too high voice that James and Sirius still managed to smile at nonetheless.

"Well so long as he has his uses," Lily murmured approvingly, hoping this would help Molly to lighten up all around now that she saw there was more than one side to everyone. She really was hoping to hear of a make up between her and Sirius before Harry went back to school, an apology really was in order for Sirius.

Harry rubbed furiously at his scar now as he gazed blearily around in confusion, still trying to resist word vomit anytime that place was mentioned even if his scar wasn't paining him now.

The others dearly wanted to speculate on this now. At first it had made sense in the dreamscape of his trapped feelings at Private Drive, but now? They supposed he could be feeling trapped and suppressed by that hearing, so the recurring dream would stay, but none of them liked how Harry kept reacting to it like it should mean more.

"They can't," Sirius voice broke on that though, and he couldn't pretend to keep going. There was a lot of things lately the Ministry supposedly couldn't do, and yet had been doing. It whipped them all terribly they couldn't be of any comfort to Harry about this, but Harry still didn't look nearly as worried about this as he just had about that locked corridor nonsense, so they tried to console themselves if this had happened, he'd be a lot more panicky about this.

"I'm positive you give the place a brighter charm pup, even though that's not a needed option," Sirius put more enthusiasm into that than he had this whole book so far, managing to make Harry smile up at him for real.

"Well she's not wrong," Lily muttered petulantly, still not entirely happy with agreeing about anything with her, even universal advice.

"Since when do I pass every solitary action by that man," Sirius ground out in frustration. "What, am I supposed to start telling him when I use the loo? Would he like to know my regular schedule of how often I-"

"Padfoot, considering how well I know you, please don't finish that," Remus finished almost pleadingly, while Sirius harrumphed but kept going on testily.

"Run that by me again, I don't think I quite bought the sincerity of that," James sighed.

"He couldn't have woken me up?" Harry yipped in protest.

"Apparently you were too busy, must have been in a private meeting of your own," Sirius stated just to agitate Moony who refused to look over at him. Sirius just grumbled when he got no reaction and finished.

"Chapter's over," Sirius groaned as he thrusted the book into Harry's lap. "By the way, I completely agree, the man's behaving like a wanker towards you, not bothering to once come by and hear your side."

"You can't have it both ways Sirius," Remus sighed. "You can't go complaining one minute he's too involved in Harry's life, and then say you're annoyed he hasn't checked up on Harry when the man would know Harry's fine."

"There's a difference and you know it," Sirius snapped back, but Harry was already flipping to the next chapter to avoid an argument, even if he was on Sirius' side.

*Oops, ignore my earlier * back in chapter four, my brain completely skipped the fact that this was mentioned right here, so hope you enjoyed that.


	7. THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

I'm sorry if these chapters are starting to feel a little monotonous, but thankfully this is where things start to pick up again. I'm still going to ruin a bunch of people's days by reminding I'm not adding anyone else to this reading series, sorry you guys are stuck with who's here.

HPHPHPHP

Harry desperately hoped that this chapter would be the hearing, so that he could be done with it already. He really was playing off to his family how unconcerned he was, and doing a pretty good job of it considering he always had something else so far to distract him. He just couldn't shake off that it was eating away at him though, there would come a time where he'd be leaving Hogwarts for a long, extended period of time, and it wasn't because he graduated. This wasn't because he was expelled though, right?!

"Harry, you get lost in those pages? We're not that far in," James called as Harry just kept staring without starting. Harry gave a soft jump, but managed half a smile for his dad before he got started.

Lily pressed her lips very firmly together. She didn't even know what would have come out of Molly doing this for her son, again, but she knew Harry wouldn't have appreciated the comment as he was clearly touched by the thought.

"Wonder just how often she changes that," Sirius tried, and failed, to keep the jitteriness out of his own voice at what Harry could be fixing to read.

"On the hour I'm sure, I know you would," Remus tried, and failed, at a joking tone.

"I'm sure that helped to wake her up," James did get up a smile for that.

Harry shifted unconsciously at the sound of that name, while Lily wondered what that old Auror was up to.

"Hang on, I know that surname," Sirius ruffled his brow before snapping his fingers and saying, "that's right, Brutus Scrimgeour wrote a book called The Beater's Bible."

"Which holds all of one page, and one sentence," Remus rolled his eyes, "take out the Seeker, so I hardly think he should be held in such high esteem."

"That was a work of art that was," Sirius insisted, but for once Harry didn't really want to sit around and watch them pick at each other, so he was actually glad when Lily told them to quiet down.

"Not about Sirius though?" James yelped, now very well distracted by Harry's problem.

"I'm sure that's what I'm keeping tabs on," Remus pacified.

"Which means you weren't paying attention," Sirius pouted, as he had been a bit curious to hear the end of that.

"I find it hard to believe the woman you've so consistently praised for her cooking could manage to ruin toast," Remus smirked.

"Must have something to do with having to eat all by his lonesome, that can be awkward for some," Sirius did get in an almost playful tone.

"So do I," Lily couldn't seem to stop that one escaping, causing Harry to wince and not look up at her.

"How did you manage to phase out the best part of that conversation?" James pouted. "They were talking about this mysterious guard duty again! If you can't find out about this stupid thing Voldemort wants, at least you could focus on that!"

Harry could just feel a sucker punch winding up to get him good if he even considered pausing on the phrasing of that for just a second, even if he was dying to linger on why those two things should be put together...

"He didn't phase out anything," Lily scolded, misunderstanding Harry's look. "Tonks just switched topics, don't go blaming Harry when he's been shown repeatedly to pick up on conversations that aren't even going on right next to him."

"What on earth are they guarding that's so lax he can be doing homework while sitting on it?" Remus blinked in surprise. "I'd think that would have fallen under Harry watching duty."

"Whatever it is must be boring as drywall," Sirius agreed, meaning it couldn't be that important, just some side project. Why couldn't he at least be doing that then? He didn't bring it up though just because he didn't want to hear someone telling him again of where he was supposed to be.

"Can't honestly think of anything to say to that either," James agreed.

"Haven't heard of her," Lily muttered nervously.

Harry wasn't at all comforted he had no actual feelings for this being said, maybe that meant it was so uneventful and he walked away in complete comfort? Then why was he feeling such a bad omen for what had just been read?

"You know that kind of advice from him really is a walking oxymoron," Remus smirked.

"So everyone keeps saying," Harry grumped, "yet I can't help but notice no one can looked me in the eyes when they do."

"No," all five of them said as one, James in fact ruffling up his hair for emphasis.

"Least you know Sirius doesn't play around with the important things," James chuckled, leaving Harry still unsure how much of a joke that was supposed to be.

"That is the most honest thing anyone's yet said to him," Lily said grudgingly.

While none of them outright disagreed with that, this did feel quite odd to them. Harry had needed a whole guard to escort him to Grimmauld place from the Dursleys, but now just Arthur was deemed safe enough to get Harry there? The date of Harry's leaving that place had been unknown to even him, yet the fact that there was unquestionably spies in the Ministry who would know this date, and so could be in fact planning an ambush for Harry to arrive by his lonesome seemed honestly like a far more likely possibility. It genuinely bugged the current Order members they couldn't seem to get a handle on this Order's priorities, regarding Harry or anything!

"I really just can not wait to meet him in person," Lily said with honest fondness at the idea of him, he just seemed so pleasant and happy to be around even while he was being as on guard and serious as possible.

"Doesn't make them any less interesting," James said even without knowing what that was, and honestly not bothering to ask.

"If he usually Apparates, how does he even know where he's going?" Harry asked just for something to kick around a bit of conversation and not dwell on what he was heading towards. Why was the idea of going to the Ministry filling him with such heavy amounts of dread? Just what happened here to make him feel like running screaming from the room? This couldn't all be tied to his fear of being expelled-

"I'm sure Arthur in particular asked for directions," Lily pointed out, "but I also know that upon anyone's very first time there they have to go in through the visitor entrance, and so have to get there in the Muggle way somehow. I'm confident Arthur's just going off his memories of his first few visits there."

"Because that's encouraging to hear from your guide," Remus snorted.

Harry reopened his mouth with questioning eyes on his mother, who shrugged and corrected herself, "perhaps I was generalizing a bit too much then, I was speaking as a Muggleborn. I suppose as Arthur has most likely been there before he got a job, just like Ron in his youth, then it was simply just asking for directions."

"After you've seen the Leaky Cauldron?" James reminded. "I'd have thought by now you'd learned we like to conceal our things on the outside as undesirable as possible from Muggles."

"It still threw me off," Harry shrugged.

Harry glanced around curiously, but saw no one else looking particularly surprised, which meant they'd all used this at least once. He decided to just roll with it rather than asking, as he was fixing to find out anyways.

Lily smiled to herself, though this time she was entirely sure she was the only one who got the joke of what those numbers could spell on a telephone, the word magic.

Harry's eyes flipped wide in surprise, but only for a moment before he moved on like this was now perfectly natural to him. Lily almost longed for that childish awe she'd seen on his face at every new magical thing he'd come across back during the first few books, and suddenly wanted her baby back in her arms for just a moment, just a reminder she could still have some of her baby to her.

"It's underground?" Harry said in surprise.

"Can make the place as big as they like that way," James agreed.

Lily frowned to herself, now wishing because of before she could see that expression on him again, but he didn't seem too moved by the reappearance of this place in his mind. If anything he was looking more ill the longer they lingered on the place.

"It is," Sirius agreed, "though those are actually enhanced star trackers and constellations in symbol form."

Harry couldn't decide if he was joking or not, but laughed all the same.

Harry was getting more ancy the longer he kept getting out a description of that place, unconsciously moving closer to Sirius with every new thing that left his brain feeling like swiss cheese.

James snorted in disgust, that fountain was the most idiotic thing he'd ever seen in his life.

"I wonder how much income that actually generates," Lily said randomly.

"I like to think it at least makes someone happy to think it's helping," Sirius said fairly, he'd been known to dump a handful of coins in it every time he passed, which admittedly wasn't often.

"Those magic well wishes have to come true at some point," Lily told him with a grin, causing Harry to at least smile at her again.

"Gee thanks," James rolled his eyes, though he did understand how monotonous and boring that man's job must be, it sounded impossible to muster up enthusiasm especially that early in the morning.

Sirius gave a sarcastic little applause for him taking so long to realize this.

"I'm sure that has an interesting story," James said in a strained voice as he watched Remus wince, everyone but Harry knowing which floor that box would most likely be going to.

"No, really, does Arthur know everyone?" Lily shook her head in disbelief as it seemed every time Arthur was mentioned he began speaking to a dozen new people.

"No one ever seems sure about me," Sirius smirked, and Harry finally broke his stream of bad mood to giggle at that again, though it only made the flood of worry rise again to another degree...something about Sirius in this place- he closed his eyes sharply and considered whacking himself in the forehead to get his brain to stop before he really hurt himself and kept going just a spot more loudly.

"I would never breach any such thing!" Sirius yiped, causing Harry to laugh harder and his friends to groan louder.

"There's an Official Gobstones Club?" Harry asked, mouth twitching as he tried to picture something he'd seen as a playful game around Hogwarts in World Cup style with fans cheering on a bunch of people squatting on the ground.

"There's an official everything," James smirked.

Lily was just wondering at that last one, if that was actually a person's name or they really had to create a whole office for the insane patents people invented, both were possible honestly.

"Wouldn't the man who just stepped off with the brooms go to Broom Regulatory Control?" Harry asked, seeming to get into it now of questioning each and every floor and what all those could entail. He wished he didn't have such bad feelings of this place, it sounded fascinating now that he was hearing about it.

"Depends on what the brooms are for honestly," Remus shrugged, "he could be delivering them to someone, or he could have just gotten off on the wrong floor."

Lily blinked in confusion of what those could be for.

"Oh," Lily nodded in understanding, "well that's new."

"Must be nice not to have to banish the mess away all day," James chuckled.

Harry gave a bit of a wince as he read that out, hating any reminder of Percy, even where he used to work.

Remus flinched hard enough he looked like he'd just dodged a deadly spell, and Harry went from looking back at the words, back to him, and blanched in surprise as he realized what about that could bother him so much. "They, they don't really have you labeled as a, as one of those do they?" He demanded.

Remus smiled without humor as he reminded Harry, "I know you took a lesson over this Harry, yes I am classified as a beast."

Harry opened and closed his mouth in outrage, but he couldn't think of how to put into words just how wrong that was, it should go without saying! A dragon was a beast, as were nifflers and that stupid chicken, but Remus fell into the same ranking as them?!

Remus was touched by Harry's reaction, but hoping to get him to move past this he explained, "My parents took me down there and had me registered after I was bitten, though thankfully the Ministry never compared that list with any of Hogwarts students, or staff for that matter, or I could have gotten into a lot of trouble."

"Why would your parents do that?" Harry demanded, his face still simmering with rage. "It clearly wouldn't do you any good."

"It's the law," he quietly reminded, clearly he was only making this worse, and the faces of stone from his friends showed he wouldn't be getting any help in playing this off. "My father was a prominent man in this department, what happened to me became well known, couldn't hardly keep it hidden." The bitterness tinging his voice finally made Harry realize lingering on this was helping nothing.

"I always loved the phrasing of that," Remus muttered to himself, "Muggle Worthy Excuse Committee, they couldn't come up with a better title?"

Sirius snorted quietly just because he agreed, but he was still focused on going to the floor above and giving those who had labeled his friend like that a good bat-bogey hex for starters.

"It didn't mention the office you're in this whole time," Harry noted to his mother

"It dosen't say every single one of them," Lily agreed. "As of now I'm still in the Wizengamot Administration Services, which is a lot of clerical work and learning the laws I'm hoping to one day help with. I'm working my way up to the Wizengamot Services."

For just a moment Harry was entirely sure by that steely glint in her eyes his mother could be a Minister for Magic if she put her mind to it, but then he realized what age she was and he'd never see her any older, and so quickly flipped back to reading.

"You two work on the same floor?" James asked in surprise.

"I've seen him in passing," Lily agreed, "but I've never stopped to have a chat with him. I just know our offices aren't anywhere near each other, I've certainly never visited it."

"Oh that's mature," Remus snorted.

"What I would have done," Sirius agreed with a smirk, except maybe hurricanes were too kind, tornados had much more of an impact.

Harry felt a thrill shoot through him as he found this place. Finally something good he could focus on, he felt no ill will towards this office.

James couldn't help a little intrigue himself. He had entertained the idea through most of his years at Hogwarts, but honestly after realizing what the job had done to Moody, even the fake one but honestly such a good act alike the point still stood, he was now considering some other options. It didn't stop him from listening intently to what he'd been thinking of himself doing.

"Oh joy, so where am I this morning? I here Greece is lovely this time of-" he cut himself off and ducked just in time to stop Moony smacking him again.

"Oh come on Harry, you were even warned why it's best these two in particular not go shouting about being in touch with Dumbledore," Sirius scolded for that lapse in his paying attention. "Surely you'd have guessed it wasn't a good idea for them to even pretend to know each other on anymore than a passing name."

"It caught me off guard," Harry defended, even while he shrugged in agreement he should have been paying more attention.

"That sounds like a dream come true for Kingsley, getting to see me from all sides," Sirius forced a grin that looked almost painful, while James was considering getting up and sitting on him soon to try and force that joke to end.

Sirius' face suddenly puckered with a concern he hadn't had to feel since the first chapter, "what did Hagrid do with my bike?"

"Sirius Onion Black," Remus scolded at once, "I don't find that a top priority."

"Shut it you," Sirius snipped at him. "My real middle name is stupid enough, why did you ever think that was funny?"

"Same reason you seem to think mocking my middle name is," he shrugged without remorse.

Harry interrupted the two with what little he could offer, "as far as I know, err, well I'm sure someone still has it. Maybe Hagrid kept it all this time." There was something stirring in him he didn't quite like about that answer, though he had no idea why that would give him a bad memory.

Sirius did not look too happy about the idea, but as the others considered Sirius getting that monstrosity back at a time like this the worst idea possible, were relieved when Harry changed the subject.

"Kingsley's clearly a master of subtlety," James rolled his eyes.

"About as much as you are," Lily agreed.

"Wonder if he did that on purpose," Remus did get an amused smirk out of that, while James mouthed the word firelegs to himself in confusion.

"I'd be offended to," Lily agreed while she tried to hide her own smile as James realized what had really been meant.

Sirius felt his stomach grumble, which he for once ignored. He couldn't care less about food right now when he needed to know how the rest of Harry's life was going to pan out in him going back to school or not.

Lily's eyes flipped wide in surprise as she yelped, "well it's no wonder I've never found the place! Just what's this, having his whole office in that dingy little corner?"

"Didn't you say it was one of the most popular offices that people requested information from," Harry agreed as he felt the offense for Arthur rearing up in him. "Why would they have the place so dismal?"

"Disrespect," Sirius sniffed in disgust. "The Minister would never want to admit how important an office about Muggle Artefacts could be."

"Not all Ministers are like that surely," Harry persisted, though he wouldn't feel any better if he was told this was a recent downgrade.

"Honestly Harry I wish I knew more," Lily's face stayed the same red in frustration, "but I've no idea, never had to find the place myself as I've always sent an owl along."

Harry still sincerely hoped that Arthur did get what he deserved at some point. Surely the place could be magically expanded and he just liked the small space?

James suddenly felt a whim to go and have Arthur explain those things to him, as he hadn't recognized much of it. He always enjoyed Lily and Sirius telling him about this stuff, but he still had a want to try and make a connection to the Weasley's at least for Harry's sake regarding Ron, even if he wouldn't feel as prone to coming over to the house, he could draw the line at having to be on just passing name mentioning terms with Molly.

They all gave a nasty wince for that reminder, even managing to block out Harry's inquiries of the intricacies of Magic that knew what went on outside it's painting like that.

Harry felt an upsurge of affection go off in him at that particular magazine, but one quick look around and he realized it didn't mean anything to anyone in here. It did manage to make them all the more curious what this could have to do with Sirius, so he read eagerly.

"Oh come on," Sirius pouted, "I wanted to know about that thing. Don't suppose you know that The Quibbler's usual articles are Harry?" He persisted.

"No," Harry said with regret, "but I'm hoping I'm there when it gets passed along so I can find out to." There really was something very dear to him attached to all this.

"Well I definitely can't say Arthur doesn't get up to some interesting things," Sirius said without a trace of sarcasm. He really wanted to go meet him as well, this was just sounding more fascinating by the minute.

"What's a pumble? And what's it have to do with a toilet?" James couldn't stop himself from asking now.

"I think he meant plumber, and they use tools to fix them when they get a leak, instead of us just using a charm," Sirius shrugged.

"I feel like a plumber would have an issue with this one though," Remus chuckled.

Harry felt a sudden bad feeling at Perkins arrival, and rather dwell on that for a moment he turned curiously to ask, "so what's the difference?"

"An Auror goes after, well people like me at that time I suppose," Sirius shrugged, ignoring the wince this caused in everyone else. "Big time criminals who really are a top priority to get put away. The Magical Law Enforcement Patrol deals with more trivial things, hunting down little complaints and mostly getting their exercise in by making house calls and such.

"Aurors have to start in there and work up through some really hard training and a ton of recommendations," James agreed with a suffering look. "It's why it takes so long to make it to Auror status, not many have the patience to work through all that."

Harry was still fascinated by the whole thing, but knew he couldn't play off this moment of dread forever.

"What's got him in such a bother?" Remus stiffened in concern, nothing could have happened to Percy to cause this, right?

"Bet that gave us a bleeding heart attack," Sirius muttered as he kept watching the book for the bomb.

"I feel like that's not entirely 'urgent'," Lily muttered with unease.

Harry's voice was already pitching in concern as he realized he was fixing to go running through a living nightmare.

Sirius said something that Harry guessed must have been learned from Kreacher, but he also didn't need much of a clarification for what it meant. He could already feel that nasty kick to his gut telling him he hadn't read wrong, and in fact should be preparing himself for a hard run that would be more adrenaline kicking than his sprint down to the lake last year.

Lily was too busy with her mouth hanging open to question why those courtrooms would be considered old? She'd press in on such Ministry changes later when she better understood what was being done to her son now?!

"Th-they changed, how could they change the time and place without-" Remus was trying to stutter out a question, but Harry wasn't waiting for anyone to say anything, he was speed reading as if that would somehow make what they were hearing more understandable, but it was only confusing them all more.

'There must be a quicker way to get around that place,' James thought wildly to himself as he kept watching Harry look ready to pass out from stress any moment, was he even taking breaths?

Lily was in such a tense and uneasy mood, she knew she'd have taken someone's head off by that point if she kept being stared at like that.

Harry gave such a gasp his jaw was left shaking slightly as he recoiled into the cushions, but he point blank refused to understand what that burning feeling rising in him was, too utterly focused on this courtroom and all it could mean for him, even if it didn't take much digging on his part to know just how untrue that was. There was something about this place, had been for ages, that had him leaning just that bit closer to Sirius now more than ever.

Sirius felt a wild noise escaping him that could have been a laugh, some irony somewhere in there of how much he hated Snape and those dungeons now being compared to something he could already feel a pulsing loathsome for of this place, and what he could already scent as a set up.

Harry just sat there, gaping down at the pages below him while the others began furiously around him.

"Are you kidding me!" Lily thundered out first. "They really switched the times on you, for what? To make you look bad and show up late? Has someone really gone so petty they just wanted to trip you up?"

"I know you're not that naive Lily," James had his eyes narrowed with absolute distaste at the book as he spoke calculatingly. "This isn't just some stupid prank someone was doing to him to make him look bad. No, this was a real attempt to undermine him, really strive home what those papers have been saying about him to someone."

"I know," Lily muttered in a quiet voice, she just didn't want to believe someone would do that to her baby, especially not the place she worked for.

Remus had several things he'd like to say, none of them in any way nice as he tried to picture the person responsible for doing this to Harry, but the only way to get that visual was by asking Harry, "you going to keep going? I'm ready for this nightmare to be over and you to walk back out of there giving them all the bird."

"Chapter was over," Harry muttered, though his fingers remained tensed around the books bindings, his eyes still unfocused with fear.

Sirius had to reach forward and tug hard to get it out of his grip, and only then did he look around at him and they completely misunderstood the shadow of fear that was still gripping him as he looked at Sirius passing the book to Remus for his turn.

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Normally I would have cut the chapter off with Harry's first line at the end, but since not much happened in this chapter I kept it in for you guys instead of having to wait another week to see that too, hope you enjoyed!


	8. THE HEARING

I have yet to find a way to express my thanks for the continued support this fic gets other than a million thank yous, and I will never say that enough either! Thanks so much for always keeping up with this!

To NadiyaC; No such thing as too crazy!

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Remus had to swallow hard to force himself into getting started. All of them were still wanting to go out and start smothering someone for what they'd tried to do to Harry, but this nasty hearing had been hanging over their head long enough, and Remus wanted an answer done with already, was Harry really going to pay a price for saving someone's life?

"That's an encouraging start!" Sirius squeaked while Lily continued shaking her head in disgust of Harry having to do this down there.

Lily had her head cocked to the side as her eyes continued narrowing in on this. She couldn't imagine why there would be an audience at a thing like this, but that would still make far more sense than...

"And who's fault is that?" James huffed.

Lily felt her mouth open with a little pop that went unnoticed as the others boys shifted uncomfortably. They didn't need her to tell them this just couldn't be normal, had Harry stepped into the wrong room?

Remus opened his mouth furiously to comment on that, but Lily quickly waved him silent and begged him to just keep going no matter how much she already hated where this was.

Sirius felt his teeth locking into place already, swearing he'd rip up something if those actually lashed Harry into place.

Harry wished he felt more curious than nauseous like he did now thinking of this place. He'd never liked being watched, now he had a crowds sole attention with the distinct feeling he still wasn't going to walk out of there very happy.

James' temper of this not withstanding, he still couldn't just sit there watching Harry sweat so he worked hard to pitch his voice in a silly whisper saying, "dramatic."

It worked for a whole four seconds while Harry grinned at him before turning back, his face somehow even darker upon hearing of this shadowed person.

"I'm not sure if I'd refer to him as a Weasley much anymore," Sirius grumbled.

"I think I'd be more offended if he did acknowledge you," Remus snipped, thinking that Percy meeting Harry's eyes and then Harry seeing any sort of smug expression there would only hurt him worse right now.

'He really has to write all that down,' the thought wildly flickered through Harry's mind as he found himself grasping such odd details, but still deciding he found this slightly more comforting than if he'd seen another Quick-Quotes Quill there.

'Well she got a promotion,' Lily randomly noted, only knowing her now as a woman who'd just been promoted into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. She hadn't heard a lot of good things from the work she'd been trying to pass along so far, and now finding she'd been stepped to an even higher position was not at all encouraging for how this was going. Her detached thoughts had her completely missing Harry's suddenly flushed face of covering some immense reaction, none of the others had even paid this any mind and were quickly moving on to try and get to the important parts of this.

"Oh thank Merlin," Remus actually sat back in relief.

"I was starting to think you were going to have to handle the lot of them by yourself," James agreed.

Lily honestly did feel just as relieved as them, she couldn't have asked for a better defense than Dumbledore showing up and reminding them they couldn't be the ones to get Harry kicked out of school for the mess he was in, but that still didn't cover the pure outrage still simmering in her that her son was having to sit through a full blown trial for one act of underage magic! Just what had happened to her society!

"Brave of them, considering I half expect Fudge to turn and fire them on the spot after all I've heard," James huffed.

The four of them could remember this feeling all too well, it's how they used to feel in the middle of this war whenever they were at meetings and things were starting to look bleak. One glance at their leader though and somehow they felt just that little more assured of their task at hand. Even now, in the face of what all they feared and thought he'd done to their life in this future, that feeling still didn't leave them now as he came swooping in to Harry's rescue.

Lily now had the nasty suspicion that this whole thing may well have been done to in fact make it so Dumbledore wouldn't be in attendance any more than Harry. It did make his arrival all the more satisfactory at least.

Sirius chuckled meanly to himself that the mere presence of Dumbledore had completely diminished Fudge into a dithering idiot again.

James had an odd look on his face, longing to mock the logic of this question being asked after the charges and not while the people's names had been read out, but still angry enough at this situation he didn't really want to be laughing at much of anything.

Lily caught his eye worriedly, wishing she were there to warn him that he would get his time to explain himself, and for now it would have just been best to answer simply and possibly more politely. Yet Harry was also being tried by the whole Wizengamot for this, so clearly societal rules had been torn to shreds for this meeting!

"That's what she caught on!" Harry finally burst out angrily in here. "Not why I'd done the spell!"

"Well to be fair, that really is a feat of magic you seem to underplay a lot," Remus said conversationally enough while Harry rolled his eyes for Remus actually agreeing with this woman.

Harry opened his mouth to ask about that now, but Remus shook his head slightly to show he'd be asking at that time.

James honestly would have laughed at this under any other circumstances, but Harry continually being cut off from saying that very important reason just wasn't any kind of funny.

"Well I'm so sorry it couldn't impress the crowd," Sirius sneered.

"A muggle who knows full well about magic with me living with him, doesn't that give me any leeway?" Harry demanded.

"Not really, no," Lily wished she could think of more to comfort him with, but so far this whole entire thing had only cemented their fears of Harry being railroaded in this place.

"I'd like to do more than talk with him around," Sirius got out through gritted teeth.

"Do they really not know when they're around!" Harry burst out in exasperation.

"Sadly not," Lily shook her head. "The Ministry likes to pretend they've got tabs on the species, but in reality there are more than just at Azkaban and they go rogue running into Muggle neighborhoods from time to time. It doesn't excuse the absolute odds of them running into you," she finished with an eye roll.

Harry really wished he could get more clarification on what magic could and couldn't do, as apparently you could track when a specific spell was being used but not a specific creature?

"If you actually thought Dementors were involved, things never would have gotten this far," Remus said, clearly joining in the laugh with his mocking tone.

"I didn't know that at that time," Harry muttered, real fear starting to creep up in him. If they thought he was lying, than this premonition could be all too real, and he wasn't going back to school...

"He still gets to tell his side of the story whether you believe it or not," Lily had to force everything in her not to shout that. "The rest of the Wizengamot get to decide if he's telling the truth!" She wasn't succeeding very well by the end.

Harry scratched his mind in confusion on who this could be, and realized the only other possibility was Figg. Could Squibs see dementors? He supposed he was about to find out, and didn't bother asking as no one seemed remotely confused on this.

"I'd like to deflate several things on him," Sirius quipped.

"Well it's not for him to decide how quickly something gets brushed to the side, thank Merlin," James said in clipped tones.

"She couldn't have said that before Dumbledore had to interrupt?" Lily seethed, finding Arthur's advice before about how fair this Bones woman was didn't seem to accurate if she was willing to let Fudge pummel her son until Dumbledore stepped in to say otherwise. James still had his arm tight around her waist and gave her a comforting squeeze, knowing her harsh words shouldn't really be taken full force now as she just wanted to be the one to protect Harry at this trial she should have had a hand in.

"I suppose Dumbledore told her to come comfortably," Sirius amazingly had a twitching smile trying to creep up on him in the face of all this, but he couldn't seem to stay that mad with her back. He was too busy picturing her calling Fudge much worse than a useless rump.

"Least she didn't have to sit on the chained one," Harry huffed, half wishing he'd thought to ask Dumbledore for one of those as well, as the menacing clinking noise hadn't really stopped behind him this whole time.

"That, is a really terrible oversight," Lily suddenly blinked as she realized this for the first time. "Is she living there now? I have no idea honestly, but the fact that we don't keep a record of where Squibs are living- I mean even if they aren't a magical threat I don't see why we wouldn't as they could be in just as much, honestly more danger from-" James cut her off with another squeeze, while she continued shaking her head for this glaring problem no one had ever seemed to realize, or care about.

"Why would he look at them, when she'd be the one to answer?" Harry demanded. Even not having a particular like for Mrs. Figg, he still found that beyond rude, quite a feat considering everything else the Minister had done of late.

"Confirming from a source he doesn't believe is a liar," Remus sighed after he guessed that.

Lily winced for that, fearing Fudge could still throw this testimony out if he did claim this was rehearsed and given to her by Dumbledore.

"She's allowed to be a bit confused," James said sympathetically. "She did see Dudley running, and she's about to account for two things going on at once."

Remus had to fight hard not to release a snort of mirth, but failed and began giggling anyways along with both his friends to his rising pleasure. It was the first time he'd seen Sirius actually crack a smile while the mention of dementors had been brought up in here, so he knew he'd give Figg a thanks just for that.

"Well she's not wrong," Sirius said fairly even if he could feel that nasty twitching just below the surface of his panic again at the thought of feeling around those things for the next twelve years loomed over him again.

Sirius gave Harry a mock pat on the head, ignoring the fact his hand was shaking too hard for the gesture to come through right.

"Well I'm so glad at least someone's enjoying the show," Lily said icily, wishing for more descriptions so she'd know who next to curse at work.

"At least she got that part right," Remus said in relief as he tried to keep going with more confidence now the woman had established some credibility in this.

Lily pinched James to stop him making some dumb comment about how she could have gotten the boys swapped.

Sirius was thankful he didn't have anyone in his immediate vicinity to stop him giving a polite little clap for that thrilling tale, so Lily compensated by chucking a pillow at him, not even trying to deny that she always did feel slightly better watching these two idiots make light of this as clearly it was giving Harry a distraction and he didn't look quite so pale while watching them.

"Really do just love her for this," Remus agreed.

"No one was trying to deny the possibilities," Lily agreed grimly.

"What was that?" Harry asked sharply, not exactly wanting to turn his full attention back to Fudge doing this to him, but that had done it.

"Someone twitched," Sirius tried to pacify Harry's sudden intensity by giving a very obvious leg spasm that accidentally hit Remus, and Harry lost track of his thread as Remus gave him an absent nudge back while still going.

"Including everything you don't ask them to," James said stiffly, he still hadn't forgotten the ones that had nearly gone after Harry, and to a lesser but more effective degree had done to Barty Crouch Jr., and no consequences had ever seemed to come from that.

Harry could feel himself starting to shake slightly, the now familiar pain of a memory ready to pounce leaving him sure this was no fallback excuse. Dumbledore had been wrong before, but was right now, but who on earth-

He was distracted by the flash of red hair from his mother shaking her head in disbelief, along with the boys rolling their eyes at Dumbledore's time for a joke. Clearly they at least had faith the Ministry would never fall that far, so he was probably misinterpreting something in him.

"You truly have the loveliest descriptions of people," Lily rolled her eyes, wanting to scold him absolutely none of that had been polite, but as it was his private thoughts she resisted since she knew her son had better manners than saying that to a woman's face.

Sirius couldn't resist anymore and snorted with laughter, all of the boys giggling childishly at Harry's thoughts now.

Harry was swaying just slightly as memory of this woman tried to crowd him in on all sides at once. Her appearance, her words, her very attitude screaming at him right now to get a spit ready to roast her alive, but a hard shake from his head managed to clear the worst of it while Sirius gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze, all of them worried Harry was fixing to pass out from stress for this still hanging over his head.

"This woman isn't leaving a very good first impression," James felt some of his amusement at Harry's description of her dying as clearly his son was getting a bad vibe from this woman, and that automatically put her in his bad books.

"He is literally contradicting himself," Remus sighed as he never thought he'd meet someone so stupid to not take even the smallest out Dumbledore was trying to offer. He was going small, trying to give the man just a pinch of room in saying there could have been just a few rogues, but no, the man couldn't do anything that wasn't idiotic it seemed.

"I feel like at some point it should be," Sirius snarled, as Dumbledore being Minister would solve at least a few problems at this point, Sirius' status included.

"Clearly not, as the existence of this trial proves you need a look back!" Lily hissed.

"No one gives a damn about what you want!" Sirius barked.

"He's not even being subtle about showing how badly he created this just to do the worst he can to Harry," Remus agreed viciously.

Sirius let a bark of laughter escape him, and to his absolute pleasure saw the others get a bleak smile as well for Dumbledore's choice of words whether intentionally or not.

"I don't think I can have a miscarriage of anything," Sirius said as he glanced down in confusion at his stomach.

"You just ruined whatever amount of funny that once was Padfoot," Remus told him conversationally without looking up.

Sirius couldn't resist and began ticking on his fingers, "Dobby, then Marge, now this. Not counting what Arthur did while there, that's actually only three. I know of at least one Muggle-born who got at least as many," he finished with fluttering eyes at Lily who only grinned indulgently in response as she didn't bother to deny it.

Harry was still intrigued enough to hear about this, far more than his life in his opinion, but Remus was still too invested in finding out if Dumbledore could really win this thing as it was looking like he was doing and so didn't give Lily the chance to say anything, for now.

"It's not my fault these things happen to me!" Harry threw his hands up in exasperation.

"Apparently you're going to be hard pressed to get others to believe that," James sighed with true pity. In all honesty, if he hadn't sat here and heard the accounts himself, he'd think Harry was pulling his leg with some of these stories.

"He keeps going on about how he's too busy to be dealing with this," Lily sneered. "I can't wait for someone to point out how he created this problem by setting up this whole courtroom to be there for this, wasting everyone's time!"

"You do have to love the irony of it all though." Sirius sighed. "He overlooked that instance, and now he's trying to get Harry expelled for something of honestly lesser reason."

Harry gave a bleak, obligatory laugh no one felt.

"Which in no regards is held in the Ministry's decision," Lily cut in with blistering tones, making Remus shrink back into his seat slightly and her anger wasn't even directed at him. He'd never had a problem chatting with Lily about politics, but he was starting to be very afraid for this book if it kept pushing her buttons on this topic.

Harry felt a nasty tingling at the base of his spine at that.

"I really think at some point the politeness is just another level of smugness," James shook his head.

"Least Dumbledore did what he did no matter what attitude he used," Lily sighed.

Lily made an agitated noise that still managed to sound triumphant, finally someone other than her had said it.

"Oh please stop giving him ideas," Harry muttered.

"I disagree," Remus frowned, "this is honestly a good thing him being quick about this. Let Fudge keep going much longer and he'll start trying to bring up things you don't have anything to do with but he'll still try to blame you for."

Harry gave an uneasy nod as he tried to believe Remus was right and it was high time he got his answer for this no matter how much he felt like vomiting in the meantime.

They all got a little frown on their face for that. Was Dumbledore really so busy watching Fudge he couldn't spare a moment to glance at the boy he was defending?

"You really couldn't have even if you came in wearing a Support Fudge badge," Sirius sighed.

"True Dumbledore and Figg got your side out for you, but that's probably a good thing," James said fairly. "It's been made obvious nothing you say will get through to them, at least Dumbledore still holds some weight with his reputation you just don't have son."

Harry wasn't entirely sure he agreed, but as he'd always prefered action rather than letting others do this sort of thing for him, he doubted he'd ever fully agree.

They all flinched as hard as Sirius at remembering that nearly happening to their Harry, again!

"I found that a good idea when faced with McGonagall," Remus winced, "I imagine this is significantly worse."

Finally they all felt a breath of relief pass through them again. This had been dragged on far to long, they couldn't believe this had been a real threat on Harry and he'd barely escaped by the skin of his teeth!

"I need names," Sirius said flatly, and Harry now had the absolute certainty Sirius was not joking, and was almost thankful he couldn't be of help with that.

"Hey!" They all yelped in protest.

"What's Dumbledore playing at?" Sirius demanded as he snatched the book from Remus.

"I know this wasn't a time to be sitting around congratulating each other," Lily agreed, "but would it really kill the man to at least escort Harry outside and say, anything!"

Harry sunk back into his seat heavily, his temporary moment of thrill and excitement he was free to go back to school at once dimmed by what he considered a very bad omen for the rest of this to come.


	9. THE WOES OF MRS WEASLEY

To Guest, who asked what Lily's job is. Lily is currently employed just under the Wizengamot in the 'records' type area where she's learning the laws she's going to hope to one day help make. Sorry I'm not particularly a politician, or know much about the wizarding politicians to give a more accurate answer of a title. Just the idea I have for her.

To Karelle: Don't worry, you did excellent, thanks so much for the review! I'd be happy to send along the extra works I have, but be sure to space out your email so fanfiction can read them. For example mine would be coming from amcmermaid at gmail

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Lily had to demand the book from Sirius as he was still scrutinizing Dumbledore's departure like that, and he handed it over reluctantly. Before she could get started he said, "can we please take a break, just a quick thirty minutes to do something other than this mess. I really don't want to get started with something all over again already." Harry looked just as exhausted as him and eagerly agreed, and the moment everyone agreed he at once demanded of his Godfather if he could hear some more fun stories of the Marauder's pranks at school. Sirius easily roped James into that conversation and Remus would never resist breaking in as well. Lily watched them peacefully go through several stories, her favorites usually the ones on each other, but the longer they kept going the harder it was to keep leaving one person out. They'd spent seven years as a foursome after all, and it was getting more obvious by the moment they couldn't blot him out of all their adventures.

Still it had been worth it when finally all of their laughter subsided and they all looked almost normal and peaceful again while Lily got herself started.

Harry was all the more happy for the little break he'd just had, it gave him some distance so he wasn't as hurt by that as he was at the time, and he did feel a bit better when he watched those around him either frown or scowl at this rather rude dismissal. Sure it wouldn't do for Dumbledore to show favoritism to Harry in that moment, but even a quick word goodby would have been better than nothing.

Harry felt that nasty, prickling feeling returning at once at her mentioning, and he wished he understood why. Surely she had nothing to do with his life.

"Escape while you can before they throw something else at you," Remus sighed in agreement.

Remus tried for a more open expression in regards to saying, "well if he didn't even say anything to Arthur than I'm positive it really was a matter of something else other than this place he had to attend to."

"Yeah, I guess," Harry agreed, feeling only the smallest margin better it hadn't just been him who'd been dismissed like that.

"Honestly that's for the best, he can't have gone anywhere pleasant from there," James shook his head fondly, regretting not having done something similar to his son when he seemed so pleased at Arthur's reaction, but now it would just look silly when the moment had passed.

"Can't wait for him to pass that along," Lily huffed, "I'm hoping it'll drop Fudge's credibility even more."

"Are you going to keep referring to her like that?" Sirius snickered, honestly amused at what he considered a running insult from Harry after he'd gotten her name.

"Yes," Harry said back flatly, causing his smirk to disappear at once as they all scrutinized Harry's look. What had this woman done to him to cause such bad feelings when she hadn't actually done a thing yet? He was acting more hostile towards her than Fudge.

Lily winced at even the idea of having to read out such a harsh reaction she expected a parent to have around their own child, yet Arthur utterly deserved whatever was said to Percy, it still left a bitter taste in her mouth before she even knew what was to be done.

Lily groaned and shook her head miserably, there was no way that could have been good, but did the boys really have to look so hateful while she said it. She supposed it was better than the lashing argument she'd just pictured herself.

"Was honestly hoping you'd go along," Sirius gave a believable smile to that.

"I'm sure I can give you details later when he tells that night," Harry chuckled at the enthusiasm.

"That's usually how it works," Remus smiled in full agreement as the feeling poured back over him he hadn't felt in a few years now but he honestly missed, this must be ten times more powerful to something so strong as what Harry had just gone through.

"Knew it all along," James gave a pompous smile. "Course all you had to do was look at this books length, or Merlin we could have even skipped ahead."

"Oh, now you suggest that," Harry chuckled.

"That always seems to happen during the important conversations," Lily sighed as she'd completely agreed with what Arthur was saying.

Harry extra despised that cold feeling of dread wrapping around him, forcing him to relive a memory he'd already regained just because of the sight of this man. Though he hadn't seen his face, the last time Lucius Malfoy had been in his presence was in that graveyard, groveling to Voldemort-

His recurring nightmare was interrupted by his dad whispering hatefully, "unless he's in handcuffs, I hope Arthur has the sense to keep you away from him."

"Considering the last time his name was mentioned in relation to Fudge, I wouldn't hold your breath mate," Sirius could already feel his lip curling into a sneer.

"I see where the young Malfoy gets his wit from," Remus rolled his eyes at the lame insult.

James could feel himself going for his wand again, now regretting his angry actions this morning just because he wanted to be back beside his son now. It only helped ease his hand away but worsen his mood when Sirius gave Harry a soft nudge and muttered something to him, and he blinked around before smiling at him.

"The fact that you call him mister," Sirius scoffed while trailing more silently in mutters about that.

"Well he'd know all about that," Remus snapped, "glory, I think that was almost a compliment."

"Then I'm all the more insulted," Harry groused.

"I'm sure Arthur needs that just as much to hold himself back," Lily's lip was shaking with anger as she forced herself not to start cursing something. "I still treasure the idea of him hitting that man with a book on toadstools."

"You and me both love," James agreed.

Sirius gave a soft, bitter laugh that he couldn't feel, but Harry deserved someone to admire his humor in the face of that.

"Escorting a friend, not that he'd understand what that meant," Remus muttered, not having missed the fact that the two people who should have been there for Harry were busy hiding out.

"I really didn't think there was a bad way to say that, but Malfoy really managed it," Sirius huffed.

Even as Lily winced in sympathy Harry's face didn't even do that for the remembered feeling, he was too busy glaring at nothing and wishing he could punch Malfoy in his face already.

Harry was distracted from his anger at Malfoy to really ponder that question though, since for some reason he couldn't identify he didn't like the answer given. Why? It wasn't even unrealistic, but something about that corridor and Malfoy was trying to be much louder in his mind than he would allow it.

"Subtle," James snorted in disgust.

"Again, I feel that's more for his benefit than Harry's," Sirius sneered, knowing he'd have to have someone hold him back as well when faced with that man.

businessLily froze, cocked her head to the side, and stated, "that's a really good question."

"I, err, well maybe he was meeting up with some other Death Eater that works at the Ministry," Sirius offered. "Arthur said it himself, that's not a commonly frequented area, and I don't think Malfoy would know when Harry's court date is, so maybe he just got caught being down there and made, something up," he trailed off unhappily, but Harry was watching with wide, eager eyes for him to keep going. Harry was entirely sure Sirius was very close to being onto something, but none of the others looked very convinced as this was very blatant and almost dumb for Malfoy to be trying to do such a thing.

Harry fidgeted with unease, as sure that Mr. Weasley was lying as he was that Sirius was far more on track. The two just would not come together for him to make sense of.

Harry opened and closed his mouth, starting to shake slightly as word vomit threatened to blow his head off as he was confident in that moment Arthur was looking back for an entirely different reason! To check on-

"Whoa Harry," James finally lost his compulsion so that he was sitting on the arm of the sofa next to Harry. "What's gotten into you? The trial's over, you're going back to school, I'm confident Malfoy won't do anything in the meantime."

Harry had to concentrate very hard on the sound of his voice to unscrew his face and take a deep breath before offering a shaky smile at him, and even that wasn't enough to erase the build of unease that left him sitting that much closer to Sirius.

James, finding himself more intruding than anything when he saw that, went back to his spot and tried to pretend like he hadn't seen any such thing.

Lily would have normally been trying to subtly comfort her husband for what had just happened, but she was too busy grinding her teeth in frustration that was all it took to get in with people, money. Apparently morals weren't worth as much!

"Honestly if you hadn't had that moment with him at the end of last year, I'd agree," Remus grumbled. "Sadly, as no one at that time had the chance to Imperius him before he acted the way he is, I think he's just an idiot all on his own."

"Jr. couldn't have done it before he took me to his office," Harry persisted even if he didn't feel anything telling him this was the right line of questioning, he should in fact still be more focused on that door-

"I don't see it, he was too busy watching you, it just didn't seem part of the plan," Lily shook her head. Harry was at least grateful he'd asked then just to make sure that train of thought kept getting cut off.

"How do you even prevent a Minister from falling under that though," he pushed for more, some distant part of him still afraid for this fact.

"The Minister works in very close contact with a lot of people," Remus reminded. "Why do you think Crouch got 'sick' while he was Imperiused, there's just no way to have someone fake it for a long enough period of time it wouldn't get suspicious and someone would look into him, start asking questions. Sorry Harry," he finished truly apologetically, "I guess it would be easier to blame someone else on this problem with magic, but that doesn't usually work."

Harry just sighed but let the matter go.

Sirius snorted lightly as he realized Remus and Dumbledore had essentially said the same thing, but he didn't really want to compre Moony to Dumbledore right now.

"That's true to," James agreed, "you are in enemy territory."

Lily felt the happy giggle slide from her with what felt like the first true ease in this book. Something as whimsical as her son keeping this promise was a treasure to her.

"I'm glad you see the truth in that thing," James happily agreed.

"I honestly think that's why that attempted assassination on Spout-Hole happened," Remus smirked, then catching sight of Harry's bewildered look he explained, "a group of centaurs tried to kill a past Minister, Faris Spavin, and I've no doubts it really had something to do with the timeframe this statue was put up."

Harry didn't have it in him to deny someone deserved a good reality check for thinking up this statue.

Harry felt a nasty tug on the edges of his memory, thinking he was now being ridiculous that Hermione and him at the Ministry at the same time shouldn't cause any bad feelings...

Lily let out a whistle in surprise, as she knew she kept a few galleons on her, but no one could do anything but smile at Harry for this spot of kindness.

Harry in no way regretted his actions of course, but he was thinking hard to himself why that felt so ominous to him, that statue and also that hosptial...

"So I'm guessing you're back at that place." Sirius hadn't been in a particularly good mood while hearing of Harry at the Ministry, but this was honestly only making him feel worse.

As a natural reaction but also hoping it would cheer him up, Remus gave a sarcastic little applause for Sirius' brilliant thinking, while Lily was ignoring them both.

"Well he's not wrong," Remus snickered while Sirius released a bark of laughter for that being true.

"That's right Harry," James nodded in pure agreement, "mock them for trying to comfort you to your face."

"So long as they were silently worrying while you weren't watching," Sirius giggled in agreement.

Sirius didn't even consider denying his spark as he got to his feet, James moving only a step behind him as the two began bouncing around their own room doing the exact same thing. Remus only watched long enough to see the pattern the two quickly took to before joining with a stupid grin in place as well.

Harry was about ready to fall off the couch laughing any second and Lily in no way looked like she was going to be stopping them any time soon. They all, especially James, had been so tense lately that it was good to see him acting like the an idiot goofing off with his friends again. Finally though, she did pick the book back up and kept going over their noise.

Lily read that part just a bit more loudly, hoping they'd take a hint soon even if she couldn't wipe the smile off her face while doing so, but the lot of them ignored her.

"A once in a lifetime experience I'm sure," Harry snickered to himself, his eyes still dancing as he watched the three of them still mimicking his past with amusement.

Lily had said that in such a sharp 'mother' voice, that Sirius stumbled in surprise, Remus tried to catch him, and the end results were all three on the ground still laughing like crazy people. Lily was still going as if this was all perfectly normal background to her reading, which it honestly was.

Harry's good mood could find no reason to dampen in here either, as for what felt like the first time in ages he was confident that house should always feel like that to him. It was so nice to watch the boys untangling themselves and still smirking at their spot of fun and his mother's purely happy smile he almost wanted to ask her to stop just for a moment so it wouldn't end, but he'd sadly already come to the conclusion time stopped for no one, not even someone out of time.

"That's how I love to celebrate," James snickered as he settled back into his seat next to his wife.

"I don't find that childish at all," Sirius pushed his hair out of his face just in time for a frown to reappear there as he thought back to Dumbledore again. "He really was acting off right there, couldn't be bothered to look at you once that whole time. That's most certainly not normal."

Harry wished that nasty tingling sensation would vanish already instead of agreeing with Sirius.

Lily jolted in surprise of reading that, knowing if she hadn't just cut the boys off seconds ago that would have as they all paled for this being mentioned again while Harry's smile flickered before vanishing entirely as he was reminded of that.

Sirius was entirely ready to get up and start the jig up all over again before he realized Harry was trying to sit so close to him again, and decided for now the best course of action was just to remind his pup everything would turn out okay by staying right where he was.

Sirius' frown was starting to make a reappearance as well, feeling like smacking himself upside the head if he really hadn't noticed Harry's moment of pain. What exactly had he been doing not to have seen that?

Remus was thinking the exact same thing, and was honestly even more annoyed with himself he didn't even seem to be in the room. What business had he done that was so important he wouldn't have stuck around the house to hear this news as soon as possible?

"I sure hope he does," James hated watching his two friends suddenly dim right back down into that somber mood this whole book seemed to be leaving on all of them after just a few moments and vented that by saying, "the man needs a few good words said to him by both Harry and Sirius now."

"Here's hoping," Lily agreed quietly.

"Did she expect you to eat all that?" Sirius did a very good attempt at putting up a smile back in place.

Harry helped nothing by not answering, still seeming distracted by running his hand over his scar which seemed to be bothering him more this year than any before.

"Kreacher ruins everybody's good mood," Sirius agreed solemnly.

"Oh," Lily uttered by the end as they all looked like they'd been hit in the gut. "Oh Sirius," Lily tried to start, not even sure herself what was going to come out, but Sirius snapped back at once with his eyes flat black.

"Don't you even Evans-"

"Potter," James corrected on instinct, though he too looked ready to say something, Sirius continued even louder-

"Potter then, the both of you." He sat there struggling for a moment to put into words that he didn't want to hear their sympathies on his sad state of a future if he even for a moment was acting like that towards Harry, but at the same time the words just wouldn't come as he could all to easily picture it. The only thing that had gotten him through his summers there were waiting on the letters from his friends, and he no longer even had that in that miserable place. Now he was looking at even more of that away from Harry, and even Remus it seemed as he'd been mentioned there all of three times instead of up Sirius' butt like he'd have hoped his friend would be to keep his mind off where he was.

He was almost grateful he didn't have the chance to say any of that as Remus cut in with an almost gentle scolding, "haven't we been over this. There's no point tearing into him when he isn't treating Harry that way now, he's never going there, so this won't ever happen."

Lily still felt like she should say something to him, either a promise she didn't blame him even if he was secretly wanting that or to offer up some suggestions of how to make this even a bit better, but Sirius was clearly relieved at avoiding this all together so she kept going in hopes the whole topic would pass quickly and they could just be with Harry in school again where hopefully nothing too eventful would happen.

James didn't entirely agree, he was a bit convinced there was something else going on with his best mate entirely and so avoiding Harry was just a byproduct of that, but he supposed his Sirius wouldn't know what anyways and kept his mouth shut, for now.

"Hey!" James snapped at once, his eyes flashing with such protection Harry was suddenly grateful his wish had never come true and Hermione wasn't here with them, she'd be getting an ear full from his dad.

He couldn't even think up a defense for her, he'd have liked to snap at her right now as well for speaking of his godfather like that while he was talking about his problems, a little sympathy wouldn't have hurt for as much as she showed towards Kreature.

Remus was flushed in anger as well, he was almost glad of his absence now as he liked to think if he had been present for that he'd have snapped at Hermione for speaking about Sirius like that. He was many things, yes even selfish at times, but not for such an important matter as Harry continuing going to school.

Lily's lip seemed to be curling a bit in that sneer she so often got when speaking about Snape lately. Hermione had always been a vivacious child when she was speaking of what she thought, but while Lily encouraged and even admired that about her, now she was turning what she thought were her ideas on her friend, and she did not read this bit lightly.

Sirius blinked sourly at the stupid book, still wishing more than anything he could find something in him to deny that claim...and coming up empty.

"Being around the Order all the time holds nothing to being around family," James hissed under his breath. His most daunting missions he'd ever taken were the extended ones away from his own, even when he did have a partner. That person, while a mutual friend, still couldn't replace who he really wanted to see.

"It only would have made you feel like the answer was inevitable," Sirius told Harry quietly, who nodded in agreement, he hadn't really held that against Sirius. He'd never thought Sirius would turn him down, but it was nice to still get a reason.

"Not my choice of words," Lily huffed, "more like pompously."

"She'll be the next Percy if she keeps telling people how they should be feeling," Remus agreed, thinking back to how she'd been acting in third year as well.

Harry hadn't felt this angry at Hermione since she'd gotten his firebolt taken away, and this was so much worse than that. Sirius was on the run for the murder of his brother because of a long standing friend who'd left him framed and for dead, while Harry was about to be kicked out of school! They weren't comparable problems, and Sirius would never think to insinuate otherwise!

Sirius felt like he'd been slapped. He certainly felt the hot burn rushing his throat and threatening to overflow onto his face through his eyes as he found that was proof of what Molly had said earlier. If even Hermione had caught him doing or saying something-

"That arrogant little shit!" James howled, looking as angry as when Sirius had been sent off to Azkaban without a trial. "He's been living in hell for how many years now, and she goes turning any sign of him wanting to reminisce to Harry about me into him being a loon! For God's sake, he's done nothing but try to do everything for Harry since he got out, has everyone just forgotten that!"

"Prongs." The soft little voice was the only thing that could have cut him off, and James had to work hard to focus on him through blurry red vision to see such a resigned expression.

He wasn't having that as he hissed back, "I'm getting sick and tired of hearing people talk about you like this, when none of them can claim to know you worth a damn. Why am I the only one getting hacked off about this?" He finished more towards Remus than anyone.

"You're not," he said at once in short, clipped sentences to keep his own anger held in, "but you were doing such a good job vocalizing I'd be remiss to cut you off or even add in."

"Stop, please," Sirius cut in with more force before any return could be made. He faltered a bit, knowing he'd catch hell in here if he told them the real reason he couldn't work up the steam over this was because he honestly feared how true it was, so instead he put out, "I just, can't get worked up over thinking of myself in any sense in that future, so I'd rather, you know, not think about it anymore than I can." He finished in a tiny voice, clearly not doing as good a job as he'd intended in keeping his real thoughts out of his tones as James face suddenly flipped to concern, but Lily seemed to understand best of all as she seemed to be respecting his wishes and wouldn't let anyone say another word as she kept going.

Remus had to work very hard not to spit out, 'so that's a sign of insanity now?!' When in all honesty that was the most true thing Hermione had ever said, and no one, clearly not him, seemed to be going out of their way to help Sirius anymore than keeping him at arms distance from the one person who could have made that more bearable.

"That's gratitude for you," Sirius muttered just for something new to say and still not looking at anyone.

Lily gave a hollow laugh as the phrase, 'be careful what you wish for,' flitted across her mind.

Lily had to work very hard to keep the bitterness out of her voice Hermione so easily flipped subjects like that. As if talking about Sirius were inconsequential and instead she could make them hear more about her views. Those boys clearly cared nothing for her thinking on this, and this one just never seemed to take a hint. They were all in such a bad mood, none of them even had the fun to point out Hermione had just referred to her own organization by Ron's stupid name.

"More like she'd have to pay them to be doing any such thing," Sirius sighed as he still couldn't find a smile in himself to put up. It wasn't helping no one, not even Harry, was helping by playing along.

Sirius gave an obnoxiously loud laugh for himself just having mimicked Ron, at least making Remus roll his eyes again, something Sirius was confident he'd never grow tired of.

Harry had some sad little frown on his face he didn't seem aware of at the mention of that,

and no one noticed him wince slightly as without fail, the other boys managed some small enthusiasm for that word alone.

Sirius wished a Bludger would come knock him stupid already just so he didn't have to see Harry look shameful at that!

James ran his hand furiously through his hair as he realized what Hermione had said clearly wasn't going to come back up so he could keep going, and he wasn't even sure if he could have anyways after his brothers pitiful little attempts to deflect him from it. That didn't make his simmering anger feel any better, but he managed a mask that at least resembled his joking tone as he told Harry, "nothing ever is."

Harry had to push through his mind to force himself back into this conversation before he simply responded, "Quidditch," and was thankful a second mentioning of it only left another dull sadness in him he didn't have to examine.

"Okay, most things," he conceded.

Harry gave an exaggerated groan and a playful nudge to his godfather that went completely ignored.

"Oh wow," Lily blinked in surprise and almost relief at this new topic. "I thought that was just glossed over like last year, hadn't realized you hadn't even gotten them yet."

"What are they playing at sending that the day before school starts," Remus agreed in surprise. "Can you imagine how packed Flourish and Blotts is going to be, everyone trying to get that last book for their Defense class. At least the others the parents could have gotten already."

"You do bring up the fun question of who it's going to be this year," Sirius was really trying to put some enthusiasm into chatting about this, but Harry very clearly did not agree as he pleaded his mother to cut him off and go on, they'd get their answer soon enough, and he already had a bad feeling about it.

"One of the few good features in that house," Sirius chuckled, "my favorite part being, it spits whatever you threw in there right back up a few minutes later. Great for saying you cleaned your room so you can scarper and then blame the mess on someone later."

"I can't imagine how someone would find a use for that," Lily told him deadpan.

"That sounds extraordinarily boring," Sirius snorted, forcing himself to get into this now despite Harry's lack of enthusiasm over this. "Are you sure you can't come back Moony? At least you wouldn't be caught dead assigning anything that has such a title you'd use it for a pillow."

Remus gave an exaggerated eye roll for what he felt was a stupid question, while James sighed and forced himself to add in as well even if he'd prefer to hold onto his anger some more. "You know, it never even mentioned what book you did assign," with a curious look at Harry.

"We only ever studied out of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," Harry shrugged, "he didn't assign any other specific books. I was grateful, as the only other thing I'd used it for before then was just to look up some creature I heard an older student mention and I didn't know." He finished himself off with a curious look though before adding on, "how come that's a first year book anyways? Care of Magical Creatures isn't even mandatory."

"It's intended for individual studies," Lily told, "so that you have a basic understanding of magical creatures on hand even if you don't take the class. By making it part of your first school list, someone likes to think that you've cracked it open at some point."

Harry gave a sheepish smile for that, as the only real time he'd ever done much of anything with that book was a few things for Professor Lupin out of it. He'd managed to accidentally rip out a few chapters at some point he'd never bothered reparing, like his section on boggarts for instance, and at the end of his fourth year him and Ron had skimmed through the whole thing by themselves on one of their off periods in one of their silent 'don't want to talk right now' agreements on Harry's part.*

Sirius really did laugh that time, though he'd yet to fail when mention of them making an appearance so he was at least happy for that consistency.

"Did it really take them the day before term to pull that together?" Lily asked with honest concern.

"I knew it must be getting harder all the time to get someone in, but this is just getting sad," James agreed with a very pointed look someone was very pointedly ignoring.

"Sacked?" Remus repeated with a snicker. "Really, that's all the reference I get?"

"Besides, he technically quit," Sirius reminded, giving him the stank eye for the reminder as he finished, "with protest."

Remus ignored the jab.

"Deserved it," Lily muttered bitterly.

"Still my favorite," Remus savoured.

James shuddered all over again in renewed horror of that.

"You'd think the job was cursed or something, oh wait," Sirius smirked.

"I wonder what happened to the twins teachers before those came along," Remus puzzled.

"Guess something far more boring," James shrugged.

"What's got his knickers in a twist?" Remus asked too enthusiastically, anything to get back off that job he honestly wished he'd never taken, it's not like he'd done much good at it that no other competent person could have.

"You said perfect, right?" James was staring at her oddly. "What's perfect?"

"You heard exactly what she said Prongs," Sirius corrected, his eyes growing steadily wider as the shock sunk in. "Prefect! Oh wow, go Ron!"

Remus was snickering lightly while Lily was shaking her head fondly at these boys, thinking this was most likely similar to how they'd reacted upon Remus' Prefect status as well. A little humor, some congratulations and then trying to move on by looking at her like, 'get on with it.' Clearly they didn't put much of a big deal into the matter, which made sense considering how often they went through their life ignoring any and all resemblance of authority.

"Now that was just hurtful," Lily couldn't stop her twitching lips as she tried to read in Fred's mocking tone, perhaps not doing it as well as the boys, but still almost hitting that playful way she imagined them using.

"Harry would never do such a thing!" James gasped in mock outrage. "He's going to be far too busy avoiding Ron the rest of the year to join him!"

"You were a Headboy though," Harry suddenly blinked as he realized this. "Do you not need to be a Prefect to get that?"

"Nah," Sirius rolled his eyes, "I honestly have no idea how they pick them, I feel like they just pull a random name out of the Sorting Hat, it makes more sense than going with any 'qualifications,' which neither of them had to be holding any such title."

"Thank you Padfoot," Remus snorted.

"I must applaud them on seeing this in the proper lighting, someone I know never did see it that same way," Sirius said tragically while Remus hadn't stopped laughing this whole time for how much of a flashback he was getting to his friends ribbing on him through the whole, very long, train ride when he'd told them. It had been almost a relief to attend his Prefect duties first, at least they'd had enough time to let them laugh it off with each other so by the time he came back they'd almost been ready to ignore the whole instance.

Some of Lily's humor did fade at that, while the boys just laughed harder, though a bit harsher in remembrance of Molly especially so fresh after Hermione's potshots. She however was thinking the twins could show just a bit more of both praising and picking on their brother at once, hadn't they learned after they'd dealt with Percy sometimes words could hurt after all those years. They were making the same mistake with their younger brother as they had been with their elder one in treating him like this just because he'd gotten an accomplishment he'd had no real control over. They didn't necessarily have to approve of it, but couldn't they at least not take the mickey out of him for it.

"Which he wore for the next two years straight as well," Harry muttered in remembered disgust, managing to ignore the old conundrum he'd always had at school of having twenty-two Prefects at once running around, plus the Head Boy and Girl, not to mention all the teachers always seeming to keep an eye on all things. It really did boggle his mind how the Marauders got away with anything like that, though it must have helped in fact to have a man on the inside.

"Wow, both of his friends got it!" James tone came out much harsher now as he was still waiting for an apology from her as well as Molly to Sirius' face. "I'm thinking she'll do worse than Ron, she'll be too busy with all her studies to deal with Prefect duties. Least he'll enjoy the attention it gets him from some of the younger students."

"So long as he doesn't let it go to his head," Sirius said a little uneasily, still remembering last year and how Ron got because he thought he wasn't recognized enough. Now the opposite problem could occur.

"That timing though," Remus muttered at how awkward this could get.

"Ouch," Sirius winced hard for that one. "Yes he's sure woman, the schools never sent someone the wrong envelope before." He got out quickly before anyone could make a more snide comment about her.

"Wow, she came skipping in when she thought it was Harry's but now it's Ron's and she's actually at a loss for words, for once," James huffed.

"Saved by the Mum," Sirius looked a bit relieved, that couldn't have been going any more awkwardly.

"Why does she bother asking? I thought she always gave him maroon just to color coordinate her kids by this point," James snarked, clearly his mood getting worse now that both people of his ire were in the same room, and hardly even reacting when Lily pinched him to get him to stop.

James gave Lily a pointed look which she ignored.

Sirius got a happy snort of laughter for that sentence existence, after all pyjamas were a very fascinating conversation topic.

"He is as of five seconds ago," Lily giggled.

"Hey!" All three Marauders yelped indignantly on behalf of the twins, Sirius persisting the point, "what happened to the other two that are in the room?"

Lily nibbled on her lip for a moment before continuing, feeling just as bad for the twins as she would have if Ron hadn't gotten this reaction. Ginny hadn't even made the status yet, so she really wasn't sure if that was the right thing for Molly to say there.

James wanted to ask if that meant even Charlie had been one, but he honestly wasn't sure if this should be counted as Molly had just brushed aside two of her kids, she might have done it for three in that moment.

"Wow," James rubbed at his shoulder with his own hurt filled eyes. "I'm not even a Weasley and that hurt my soul."

"You'd be just as snarky if she tried to play it off and not single out one of her children for doing something so good," Lily sighed, hating having to deal with her husband when he was in his petty moods, which seemed to be happening more often than not of late.

"He'll be lucky if they don't do far worse to him," Remus muttered, knowing the twins, like his friends, might just take this as a new challenge to prank their little brother and see how well they could get away with it. They'd yet to clearly be doing things to Ron at school, but he wouldn't put it past them for this to be a start.

"That woman has no shame, the boys in front of his friends," James grumbled.

"Howler," Lily reminded, clearly Molly held absolutely nothing of the world outside her circle.

Lily crooned, just a bit, as she truly did see the value in doing this for her kids that had done such an accomplishment. It certainly made sense, even if she truly felt for the twins as one of them would have always been left out of this tradition. There really was just no winning with this.

"It was part of Harry's doing, so I forgive their moment of kindness." James rolled his eyes.

"You know, I just realized, Ron and Hermione weren't there when you did that," Sirius pointed out just to change the subject. "Did you ever tell them what you did for the twins?"

"No," Harry shrugged, the thought had never crossed his mind. "I suppose they just told Ron they did it so they wouldn't have the humiliation of seeing him in them again. They were so awful Ron just believed them on the spot."

Lily winced hard at getting out the name of that old thing which effectively managed to turn every person in here into a gargoyle like face.

"Go big or go home," Remus winced as he easily saw both sides to what both parties were feeling in that moment.

They were all surprised she'd so easily agreed to this, but then the boys were suddenly bouncing in place with pleasure as they were begging Lily to get to the part where they hoped to find what exact model Molly would get!

Lily was giggling herself by the end of that, looking lovingly at her son for a moment and knowing she'd be just as bad if he had been made one. She did a double take in surprise as she saw how, off his face looked, like he was really thinking about something, but she supposed it may still be mention of that rat like the lingering darkness in the boys still showed so she didn't press him.

"That I would like to see," James snickered.

"No, no," Sirius corrected at once, a look of intrigue now dominant. "That is what I want to see! Hermione tried it last year, now I really want to know who would win, the twins or Ron. With Harry as backup of course," he finished with a smirk at his godson who did not show a hint of listening.

"My money's on Harry and Ron," Remus kept going, clearly not noticing the same thing. "The twins owe Harry big, if he asks them to take a dive and fall into detention, they just might for him."

"I don't think it'll ever come to that," James rolled his eyes. "I can't think of a moment where Ron cares enough to go at them that hard, he's hardly a ruler himself when it comes to school boundries."

"I feel like that's more her part than his," James sniffed, there she went again, speaking for everyone.

"They're off to a great start," Remus snorted.

"I don't think jealous is the right word," James grinned, "but I'd think something was entirely wrong with them if they didn't have some fun with Ron about this. Then again, I'd think Hermione wasn't acting like herself if she didn't say what others are thinking as well," he finished with a huff.

"Am I the only one remembering Bill?" Lily chuckled, thinking he hadn't sounded one bit like a prat.

"Not a bad model at all to chose from," Sirius snapped away from watching Harry curiously, who hadn't pipped up in ages now, and still wasn't showing much interest in this, which meant he must really be thinking of something in his head.

"You think he'll put it to any good use?" James said wistfully as he remembered a large portion of his agitation last year. "There's a spot open on the Quidditch team with Wood gone, and assuming Anglina or one of the other Chasers might have graduated, that could mean some new potential on the field."

Harry did blink a bit at this news and looked around curiously to find them still talking about Ron just getting the broom, so he smiled happily and forced himself to engage in his own hopes that this would happen with a distant smile the whole time before Lily cut off the Quidditch talk for her own sanity.

"Least I'm not the only one holding a grudge," James grumbled to himself, half wishing Harry had said more to his friend in defense of his godfather earlier, but he'd long accepted Harry was not the confrontational type much.

"Oh," they all muttered, looking to him in surprise and quickly away again as Harry's eyes widened with panic, realizing what he'd just been thinking about all this, and how that most likely was fixing to end up in this stupid book!

Sirius opened his mouth to repeat his joke, but in fact performed a small miracle by instead taking James small little head shake as warning and closing it again.

"A daunting enough fear, you're forgiven," Remus muttered under his breath, as they all now realized they were hearing exactly what Harry had just been thinking without having shared. No one had really missed how silent and speculative he'd just gotten, but they'd left him alone with his head for a moment since it clearly had nothing to do with poking at his memories. Now, well this just felt a bit invasive as shame began burning up his face. They were all starting to feel more than just pity for him, it really couldn't be fun for him not to have had a single private moment while he was here.

Lily suddenly stopped altogether and began running her thumb down the length of the page, and the moment Harry realized what she was doing, he took a deep breath and told her, "don't bother skipping, I guess you lot may as well hear it."

"We don't have to," James said at once to no one disagreeing. "Honestly, it doesn't even occur to me half the time, but really Harry, you can tell us to shut it at any time for hearing every single thing you think."

He took a deep breath, but looking more accepting than defeated now, insisted, "you've heard far worse than my being jealous for a moment by now, may as well get through it."

Lily waited a moment longer to realize he truly meant it, before going on.

James went to say something, but Lily gave him a small kick to get him to stop, she was trying to get through this as fast as she could. Up to this point the books, while centered around him, hadn't exactly delved into his head quite as much as this moment, and she was at least going to try and stop her boys commenting on his private thoughts no matter her opinion on them.

Sirius didn't take the hint as he rolled his eyes and said, "not even close. Thinking you should have gotten something doesn't automatically make you a self-entitled little berk. It's how you act when you get it. You aren't going to treat Ron any differently now that he has it, so you're fine pup," he finished with utter confidence, at least making Harry smile again.

"The fact that you refer to those as adventures, rather than life or death moments that you really shouldn't have been in except for extraordinary circumstances, really gets me in this moment," Lily muttered.

"Thank you for detailing all of that," Remus shivered, though they all had at some particular moment Harry had brought up.

Lily had to fight her own insistence now not to say anything in comfort for her son. He was having a human moment after all, but she restrained herself from pointing out again badges weren't chosen because of things you'd done. Honestly no students had a clear idea who was chosen and why, it was simply the Headmaster's decision, and he really could be picking at random or for any arbitrary reason.

"I really love the way you worded that though," James gave a bit of a laugh.

"That was a bit harsh," Sirius gave Harry a sympathetic pat he still didn't really feel like he deserved. "I'll bet a ton of other kids are having far worse reactions than just a bit of jealousy for their friends getting something. Imagine how Malfoy's going to act when he didn't get one and Ron did," he finished triumphantly. That did make Harry laugh again, albeit a bit more held back than he understood why.

"The thought never even crossed our mind," James rolled his eyes, causing Harry to flush anew as he realized just how well those around him seemed to know him in these few short days, and it didn't really seem it was just because of a bunch of books.

"Well geez, clearly he didn't want to be congratulated," Remus frowned in surprise.

"Everyone thought it would be Harry, even Harry," Sirius mocked, pleased Harry stuck his tongue out at him for the picking like normal again.

"He's acting better than I was," Remus smirked in remembrance, "I hid it in with my knickers until we were all on the train and it was moving before I managed to spit out the words. Which I regretted, since it only then occurred to me they could pitch me out of a moving train."

"The thought occurred to me," Sirius agreed, "but only because you actually dropped a pair of those on my head while getting the badge out to show us."

"I wonder if we'll get a return on the badge pranks," James said curiously.

"I'm having trouble picturing it," Remus shrugged. "Despite their jokes already, I can't see them having at Ron every opportunity like they had Percy, mostly because I don't see him dogging the twins to deserve it."

"I wish I could be following the twins around," Sirius sighed wistfully.

"A proper response," James giggled in agreement.

"That is so sad," Lily murmured to herself, really thinking back to how she'd acted towards Sirius now, and seeing the strained mother protecting her family as opposed to this side where she saw Sirius as her family and Molly the threat. It was hard to keep both perspectives in line at once, but she tried her best to shake off the last of her ill will towards the woman, even if she did maintain Sirius hadn't deserved what was thrown at him.

"I'd actually like to watch that," Remus said eagerly like he'd just been invited to his own show. "See what Moody's Boggart would be before he dispelled it."

Harry agreed, honestly hoping that was exactly what had happened. Why would he be getting such a bad feeling from such a silly little thing like a boggart, those hadn't frightened him in ages.

"Really? I wouldn't have thought he'd notice," James rolled his eyes.

"Glad we can be of some help, even if it is just to protect you from scary Alastor," Sirius fixed a smile in place, Harry really starting to feel bad both continued to twitch uneasily whenever they were mentioned.

"Well he's not wrong," Remus blinked in surprise at such advice while James and Sirius got a chuckle out of that.

"Why?" Lily balked at the idea.

"Suppose they ran into him for any number of reasons, and I can guess Arthur was just too polite to not invite him," James shrugged.

"Because that's not suspicious at all," Sirius said with chipper.

"The fact that she asked for a reason really makes me question her sanity," Remus smirked.

"I remember asking McGonagall who possessed her to make Remus one," James reminded, "she just told me to move along."

"What house was she in?" Sirius suddenly demanded curiously, thinking it would be interesting if she'd been yet another Slytherin.

"Hufflepuff," Harry informed, she'd mentioned Sprout as her head of house to Hermione at some previous time.

Sirius smiled all the wider his little cousin had broken even more traditions instead.

Causing everyone to burst out laughing.

James scoffed heavily, even more annoyed than usual at Hermione's inability to laugh at anything, even a harmless joke!

Sirius pretended to faint at the very thought.

"Good boy?" Remus asked of him, poking him slightly as he was still theatrically slumped over. "That's probably the nicest thing you've ever said about me."

"Wasn't saying it to your face, but to others, and you know I always covered for you," he told while still miming unconsciousness, causing the others to just laugh harder.

"If that's what he was going for, he began with a lost cause," Remus said in surprise, as the idea had yet to even occur to him that's what it had been for.

"Wonder what made you think that," James agreed, "we all thought it was Dumbledore's subtle way of rewarding our winning personalities and keeping the school's spirits up."

"You lot and your fat heads," Lily muttered.

"Best hope neither of them pass along my Head Boy badge then," James muttered for Lily alone, who agreed.

"Honestly, his mother's lucky he was just talking about it rather than trying to be on it in the house," Sirius chuckled.

"I'd rather go back to hearing about the broom," Remus muttered, everyone else looking just as disappointed except Lily, who hushed them so she could see a conversation she'd actually been looking forward to. If anyone could get through to Hermione how she was acting regarding house-elves, she'd put money on Remus.

"That's all we get," Lily pouted as she saw the next line changed topics.

"I wasn't really listening to them," Harry said apologetically.

"Boys," Lily muttered.

"Now we're tuning into the important conversations," Sirius' grin turned eager to hear about this.

"That's an excellent term for that," James brightened, before turning a calculating look onto his friend and saying, "hey Moony-"

"Don't even start you," he shot back without looking over, so James put a pin in the idea for later.

None of them considered themselves Herbology experts, the closest one was Lily who could recognize a wide variety of plants for her potions, but they were all curious to hear what the twins had gotten their hands on now.

"What on earth would they need those for?" Lily yipped in concern, thinking they could get themselves killed by just one little accident.

"Well they'll certainly get sick enough by them," James said uneasily, hoping for more details as well.

"Now I know he's been off his rocker," James shook his head in disbelief at that one.

"Really should count our blessings he isn't around more I guess," Sirius chuckled.

Lily had already tried to instill into her son how unlikely she found that, and while Harry was looking anxious again at the returning topic, he'd yet to really start working himself up over it so they let him be on this one for now.

"I don't think you were too enamored with Hermione's house-elf topic if you're already hanging around someone else," Sirius said, easily slipping into another topic to take that look off of Harry.

"He always thinks Dumbledore has his reasons," Lily muttered to herself.

"Or it could have done worse, and made Dumbledore really seem he was playing favoritism with Harry," Sirius shook his head. "Nah, best to not let you have this one honestly."

"Not like I ever really wanted it," Harry shrugged in agreement, the idea had never crossed his mind until it was gone.

"If they didn't want you hearing," James rolled his eyes at this idea, "they wouldn't have had the conversation with you in the room."

Both Lily and James were leaning into each other just that little bit closer than was strictly necessary, just for that moment to remind each other they were here now instead of a constant source of some painful memory for Harry. The cheer of knowing that little bit more about his father had been tarnished by his now fear of what the woman he looked to as a mother could think about him. There was just no winning.

"Why did she only say goodnight to you," Sirius quickly pointed out just to give Harry some moment of singularity in Molly's eyes which he had clearly been wanting a moment ago, but now he looked all the more distracted and distant as he was clearly trying to ignore some bad feeling.

"Well this should be interesting," Remus said, Moody singling Harry out could be, fun...

"Wow, don't think we've had this picture taken yet," Sirius blinked in surprise.

"I'm surprised Moody has such a thing, you'd think it would be considered a security risk," Lily agreed. "Even we're not entirely sure who everyone in the Order is."

"Guess Dumbledore may have asked for one at some point, and no one turns him down," James muttered without much enthusiasm, as he'd already been keeping a mental list of all the people he'd heard of dying already. He was entirely sure he didn't want to hear much more about this.

Harry had already once seen Moody before his face was really a mess, but even seeing it again a photo right next to the real thing could be a shock for his mind.

Lily paled to a ghastly white color and couldn't seem to keep going for a moment, just concentrating instead on that warm spot her husband provided while Sirius tried wildly to point out, "well, now we have a time frame! Dumbledore asks for a group shot, we put Marlene on extra watch!" He said this too loudly, but it gave Lily enough of a reminder this hadn't happened yet to another person she knew, she could still be saved.

Sirius ran his hand through his hair bitterly as he remembered the details of that being recounted, of who all had been involved. He was now more than jokingly considering asking Lily to please skip this part already, it didn't feel worth it to hear how their friends were soon going to turn out.

James retched and couldn't help but recoil from her for just a moment.

Remus had to blink slowly, but he couldn't quite erase his blurry vision even as he tried to picture Doge without his hat considering he wore it all the time. This was by far the easiest thing to be comparing in these time frames though, so he forced himself to linger on this rather than having to keep listening to these wretched details.

Harry tried desperately to think of some way to erase those haggard looks from their faces, and blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "so the Weasley's aren't in the Order now?" Figuring Molly and her husband would be mentioned next to her brother.

"Oh, err, no they're not. I think they were offered, but both declined. I really don't know much about them honestly, only met them once through Gideon," Lily murmured.

"Wow, what?" James had to snap himself back into paying actual attention to what Lily was saying just in time to hear that, and he frowned at her in confusion. "So I guess Dumbledore does have a brother that's in the Order."

"Wonder what he gets up to," Sirius agreed with honest curiosity, thinking this group meeting might be worth it just to meet this man of such a famous wizard. He was suddenly sure this Aberforth had all sorts of amusing, blackmail, stories about a younger Dumbledore.

Harry could feel a bead of sweat beginning to form on the back of his neck with mentions to this, of Dumbledore and his sibling, or more than one...

This group had never even heard that name, and it was a kind distraction just for a second to try and theorize how they could go to Dumbledore and warn this woman as well without gaining suspicion of how they'd know such a thing.

Sirius brushed his hand through his now shoulder length hair curiously, wondering just how long it was in Harry's time.

Lily's voice hitched, and then failed her all together at that coming up twice in this chapter now. The hurt was always sitting there in the back of her mind, waiting to pounce even without someone explicitly bringing it up, now she really could feel a traitorous tear slipping through before she brushed it furiously away and kept going entirely too loud, but it was all she could do, otherwise she'd break down. She couldn't even bare to glance at her boys again or she'd lose herself entirely.

Sirius ran a shaking hand down his face, but the words failed of him trying to say he'd been looking out for his pup, perhaps seen something of Moody talking to him bothering him, it was just hard to pretend he was thinking of anything except removing a spine from a spineless creature.

Remus could still feel the permanent mark those encounters had left on them all.

"Glad we're not the only ones," James whispered for himself, but Harry heard anyways and they met eyes just for a moment in silent understanding.

Lily shifted uncomfortably, she was still reading in a too strained and tight voice, and if she was forced to deal with anymore bad news she'd likely toss the book away and turns into James chest any moment just to be done with her feelings for a change. Who else could be having a breakdown now? It was her burning desire to try and help anyone out if they were in pain that managed to help push her own away so she could find out.

Sirius really almost did faint in surprise as scenarios began flipping through his head, of Death Eater's storming in and catching Ron off guard while he'd snuck upstairs to check on his broom, of the poor kid being attacked by something in that house they hadn't managed to exterminate yet, his falling down those stairs and someone coming across his body-

Harry gasped wildly and lunged forward to snatch the book away from her. He'd just had to relive the sharp experience of his parents being out of his life all over again, he couldn't stand losing someone else!

"Harry breath," Remus reminded cooly, even if his face was still a bit too pale from what he'd just heard from Moody and the honest shock of that scenario ever being a thing. "There was a boggart in this room, remember. Molly wandered off to go get rid of it, I think you just walked in on some bad timing."

Lily got the book back from her son while he was still wavering with understanding this, and quickly kept going even more loudly than before, every last bit of her hoping beyond all hope that was really what was going on!

The book nearly fell out of Lily's shaking hands, a combination of relief at such a drastic misunderstanding and still lingering sorrow of her own for this mother whom she now completely could sympathize with. She had so many she cared about, it was only natural this was any mothers boggart.

Harry watched those around him relax even as he couldn't shake this nasty feeling that his fear still pounding through him wasn't so unfounded, he had a very good reason to be worried about a dead Weasley...

Harry choked and shook his head furiously to push away something so powerful it was rearing up inside him to strike him down now if he lingered on that idea.

James was running his fingers in agitation through his scalp as he fought whether to break in and ask if the boggart had managed to create both at once or was he just simplifying another two bodies. He came to his own silent conclusion it must be the first, even in death Molly couldn't picture the twins apart it seemed.

Lily's voice wavered and nearly failed her as she was forced to imagine the same thing, while James wrapped an arm tight around her in comfort and a sudden tightening in his throat finally dispelling the majority of his anger at Molly. She'd still said some way to harsh things to his best friend, but at least now he could see she'd truly meant it in her heart of seeing his son as her own, and he couldn't really hate someone like that.

Harry almost felt his own sob of relief escape him for this finally being cut off, he just couldn't imagine if that thing had kept going, he'd be forced to see even more people he cared about. Maybe even Ginny- his left hand suddenly spasmed and he clasped them tightly together in his lap instead to ignore whatever that moment was.

Lily was fidgeting with the last page of this chapter, finally, as she all too easily envisioned that. She wondered if Remus was having any other flashbacks to comforting a redheaded mother in fear for her child.

Remus was staring vacantly at nothing as those words registered. Molly wasn't the only one who had those kinds of nightmares, though at least she'd never been the featuring monster doing the act to her loved ones.

Sirius felt his vision tunnel, a ghost crawling slowly up his spine and wrapping tight around him and refusing to let go of the idea that this would be the second time in his life he'd see his dead best friend, now somehow actually made worse as the fear of losing Harry all at the same time was shoved in his face...

"Sirius?" Harry gave him a hard poke, all of them watching him fearfully for that haunted look he usually only got when Dementors were being spoken of. Going with that assumption, Harry tried to laugh off, "it was gone before it could zone in on me, nothing else happens because of it."

"Right," he nodded hard, still staring steadily at his brother and forcing himself to watch the odd, curious look in place rather than the vacant eyes he'd envisioned.

"Hardly," James murmured with conviction while Lily snuggled deeper into the crook of his arm.

"I would never," Harry said almost indignantly, unable to picture such a fierce woman and mother as less because of her greatest fear.

"That's not something to be saying to a crying woman," Sirius told purely because the words had escaped him without him even realizing it, there was no trace of him that could find mocking humor in this.

Harry made a terrifying, rasping noise of fright, his whole body tensed as if ready for a fight while he was seconds away from reliving something of what that boggart had just shown him-

"It's going to be alright Harry," Sirius marched into his train of thought with a comforting squeeze on his shoulder, clearly taking his own fear he'd just experienced and forcing it aside to pay attention to anything else, even Harry's resembled one. "That Weasley family is as tough as they come, things will work out. You're fine, everyone's going to be fine."

Harry forced himself to meet his eyes even if he in no way felt the comfort.

Lily couldn't read that without a hard hitch in her throat as it was exactly the fear she held for the woman and child. She'd always felt pity for Percy, could almost see how his offense could have lived with his parents choosing some outsider of the family rather than refusing to see his side, but as she knew her son was the one in the right all she could really do was cling to the now bleak hope it all somehow just had to work out.

James hated that it all kept floating right there as a constant reminder. His friends, his wife, how soon they'd all succumb to this war... and who's fault it was. Even if he hadn't raised the wand, even if some of them would have died without the intel that had been provided, he could never look another member of the Order in the face again without always knowing there was one member to kill them all.

Remus was honestly grateful Sirius had stopped him, even now he didn't think that was the best line of comfort, he'd just been trying to fling around facts in hopes she'd quiet which is what normally worked for himself.

Sirius wasn't at all surprised that's what he'd caught on. He knew a little something about regret when it came to losing estranged family. He was still living through that highlight.

"Absolutely no one will blame you at that time mate," James agreed nastily while Harry gave an obligatory laugh for the statement while ignoring some vicious little thought popping up in his mind he hoped his godfather lived long enough to see that day. He stamped that right back out and refused to acknowledge it as anything other than his pessimistic side having some bad timing while watching Molly fear the same for her own loved ones.

Harry had never even imagined the idea of where his best friend would live if not with his parents. His first assumption he supposed would be one of his older brothers, Bill seemed the most likely, but what Remus had just said really struck a cord in Harry as he realized how much Remus did care. Making him want to question all the more where his stance had been back when Harry had gone to live with the Dursleys. He was growing more confident by the day though he did not get an answer to that.

It suddenly hurt James too much just to even look at Lily. To see the emotions that caused to play out on her face, to hear how broken her voice came out with that, so he turned busy eyes anywhere else while unable to remove himself from her side to keep her soft warm body as his comfort.

This was certainly a big enough thing anybody normally would have eagerly flipped topics, to discuss and try to figure out why Harry's scar would be burning at a time like this, but for once they were all to clammed up in their own heads for fear of this future for that to have even made much of an impact past the smallest bit of registering it happening, and Harry immediately brushing it off.

"Absolutely not," Remus muttered to himself, "talking to yourself is perfectly normal."

"Most people still bother keeping it in their own head," Sirius remarked quietly, leaning just a bit more closely to Moony than normal for that reminder he still had one friend with him in this bleak future.

"I'm done," Lily snapped with triumph, wishing she could go back to that moment, to so many before of her sons more childlike memories rather than having the harsh reality of the life she was living slammed down around them.

"I know it's hard love," James promised, running his hand up and down her back and still looking vacantly around the room, "so if you need me to fini-"

"No, I meant with the chapter," she corrected, all of her features still brittle with everything she'd been feeling in these moments. James finally looked back over at her, and it took a moment to drag himself out of the depth of her eyes to remember he had a book to grab.

HPHPHPHPHP

I'm not sorry for how harsh I was on Hermione in the portion of this chapter you all know I'm talking about. She really ticked me off while she was talking about Sirius, just like Molly before. Both women just seem to have this high and mighty status when it comes to him where they think they know everything about him and are trying to correct his everyting, thinking they know and understand the reasons he acts the way he does, and I just want to smack both of them and tell them to leave the poor guy alone because both aren't true even one little bit. The closest person is Remus and even he lost a lot of rights in telling Sirius anything after twelve years. Molly earned back some sympathy here at the end, but now Hermione's in the hothouse which probably won't last long because...well honestly because it doesn't really come back up again which really makes me mad, but doesn't hold much focus so there's no point in continually revisiting it.

I've heard that in some of the original drafts of this book Ron was slated to die at some point, and I feel like that's made pretty clear in this chapter in particular. Am absolutely not saying I wanted it to happen, I love Ron to much, but credit to this woman for constantly setting up so many things.

* I do realize I created my own little plot hole in saying this was the book Lupin used as boggarts can't be found in that, but rather than just making one up on the spot I wanted to incorporate that into cannon a little better, and just pretend that the actual book is longer than the version we all get.


	10. LUNA LOVEGOOD

To all of my guest reviewers and anyone ever, I'll never be angry if you disagree with a single thing I type/ write, you are your own opinion and if you think Hermione was in the right or you don't see Sirius the same way I do, I'm always happy to hear it and enjoy another side of things, it's honestly fun for me whether I agree or not! Thanks as always for sharing your thoughts in reviews no matter what the contents are!

HPHPHPHP

James had never found it such a struggle in his life to get started on his part of the book. Even homework had never felt this bad. They weren't naive, they all had known when stepping into the Order they should be expecting a short mortality rate, but for it to be so hard pressed into them on top of the honestly much crueler parts of hearing the living people's futures. James had to work hard to collect himself, to glance at his wife, son, and friends around him to remind himself why he kept going. For the change that had to come, the good there had to be in being forced to live through this.

"That is the most unrealistic dream you've ever had," Sirius scoffed.

Harry rubbed absently at his scar, wishing this would quite being mentioned already as it never failed to leave him uneasy.

They all frowned in pity for that, hoping Ginny wasn't hurt too bad, and entirely sure Molly's yelling most likely wasn't necessary that time, the twins were most likely feeling guilty enough for that move. Harry only partially disagreed, in envisioning himself jumping down those stairs to make sure she was alright while giving the twins a good telling off himself.

"I'm sure going to miss hearing about this," Sirius said with utter sarcasm, he was looking forward to Harry going back to school more than anyone just so he didn't have to keep hearing about this place.

"I would never hurt her!" Sirius yelped as he pressed his hand to his heart while James ignored him and Harry's light smile.

"They've been so inconsistent with that, I'd really love a chart on where they stand," Lily muttered.

"That's ridiculous, he's too tall, he wouldn't fit behind one," Remus deadpanned.

"More likely a street light," James tacked on with a stupid smirk mostly for remembering what those were.

"I think using manners while shouting is a bit of an oxymoron," Sirius smirked.

"I'm sure she just loved that," Lily snorted.

"Couldn't describe a more perfect background noise," Sirius snipped, trying to count down the seconds until this place would be mentioned no more.

"I can not remember a time where that word has stopped me from doing anything," Sirius sniffed with the happiest smile on his face Harry had yet seen when he was mentioned inside this place.

Harry cracked up laughing as he remembered seeing the pooch, who always seemed to carry a far more carefree attitude than his human godfather.

"There's the proper response," Lily agreed, her voice far less begrudging than Harry was expecting, which meant even she must think it was a good idea for him to be getting some air.

"For the last time, hopefully," Sirius muttered without any real feeling, knowing he wouldn't be so lucky.

Even Sirius couldn't help a light scowl for this woman never seeming to show a spot of fun. He wasn't doing anyone any harm by being out like this with Harry, you'd think she'd at least be grateful to him for the extra protection against Harry with his extra senses.

"Even hearing of some of the ways makes me still feel for them," James agreed with mild sympathy.

They were all still snickering lightly at listening to their carefree Padfoot to really take the chance and scowl at Molly for what they believed was a fair comparison in that moment.

Harry laughed all the harder while Sirius smirked for this, but the others were starting to feel just a touch of concern replace their happiness at hearing of Sirius being so carefree. If he wasn't careful, he'd draw too much attention to himself, and they certainly didn't want to risk hearing about that.

Sirius watched that happy smile on Harry's face, and was suddenly even more personally grateful he could only join Harry as a dog. He wasn't entirely sure of the expression that would be there if he were human in that moment...

Sirius smirked and sat up a little straighter in pride, he rarely showed off his Padfoot form to be honest, but it was nice to get recognition for it.

Lily rolled her eyes, she'd never wanted to see a smug expression transformed into a dog, trust Sirius to pull that off.

Remus was gazing absently at that for a moment as he muttered to himself, "pretty sure a large majority of the population is arriving on this day, so even if they were followed, I mean even Malfoy was technically going that way and not-"

Sirius gave him a little nudge to get him to stop.

James smirked to himself as he imagined a few implications of that happening. Harry may not have noticed his friends taking any special interest in the twins, but James saw Remus doing this as a perfect opportunity to hopefully pass along a few Marauder ideas onto the clearly troublesome trio that wasn't his son and friends for once.

Lily nibbled on her lip in fear for a moment for those implications but surely if something had happened to him they wouldn't all be acting like he'd just missed an appointment. Still, it didn't feel right him not showing up like this.

"Why did I need the add on," Harry mock demanded with wide eyes.

"If I've heard half the things from your past, you need far more than that," Remus rolled his eyes right back.

Harry could feel whatever humor he'd built up start to ebb away already, something of this scene and all of them at the train station for him leaving some lingering fear deep inside him as he looked once more to his godfather. What could that have to do with messages now...

"I'm so sure that wasn't an accident," Lily snorted softly.

Remus whacked him upside the head at the exact same time Lily snapped, "Sirius, you idiot!"

Sirius shrugged without remorse, thinking even if Harry came to visit him on Christmas holiday he was owed some kind of goodby to him in whatever form he wanted.

"Because saying his name like that is the smart rebuke," James muttered even if Lily swatted him as well for not taking that more seriously.

Harry gave one last snicker of delight even as his mother groaned into her hands what a moron her friend was for continuing to draw attention to himself like that. He couldn't just do one thing subtlety could he.

Harry felt a tight sharpening in this throat that made him very grateful he wasn't the one reading right now, he knew he couldn't have worked past that moment to ignore it if he'd been called out on for it, and yet he did not for a second want to dwell on whatever that meaningless sentence was. He'd see Sirius again in no time of course.

"Merlin's pants, this girl once set a teacher on fire! Can she please stop trying to lecture others on how to act!" James snarled.

"She couldn't even do it to his face," Remus sniffed in agreement, "but waited until they were on the train and out of sight from him."

"Least Ron sympathizes," Remus muttered approvingly, wishing he'd heard his opinion on this at some point, and honestly just as grateful he hadn't.

"Technically straight away," Remus agreed, "but I usually prefered to follow them and see where they were going to be first."

"Didn't make that any less awkward," Harry muttered as he sat there for a moment in shock as he realized he'd never ridden the train without Ron.

"You think Hermione said something to him about how I first reacted?" Harry asked quietly.

They wanted to at once reassure Ron was just feeling as awkward as Harry for the moment he realized he couldn't be hanging around his friend the whole trip, but well, they wouldn't put it past Hermione at this point either to have warned Ron that Harry had a spot of jealousy there for a moment. That could leave Ron feeling all the more awkward for this.

"Never believed he was," Sirius said with honest chipper.

"Least you get to stick around a Weasley," Remus said brightly while Harry suddenly got an awkward smile in place, something about him and Ginny in a compartment alone together that had his left hand suddenly being a bit more fidgety than normal.

"I thought first years always did that when they saw you," Lily murmured with discomfort.

"Not that many of them were younger kids," Harry muttered, any trace of that smile gone now to be replaced with a bleak scowl as he remembered all those articles he'd never read.

"Sounds like it," James grumbled, "but the way I see it, who cares."

Harry did manage some kind of laugh for that at least.

James paused with an awkward look on his face before glancing guiltily at his wife and friends saying, "I swear Ginny's the one who called her that. Who names their kid Loony?"

"Maybe it's a nickname?" Remus tried uneasily, thinking Ginny wouldn't have suggested it or called her such a thing otherwise.

"Well I definitely want to meet anyone who gets that kind of introduction," Sirius said with an interesting smirk.

"Either Neville's incredibly shy, or he already knows the background of this one," Sirius snickered with even more interest now.

"What was he planning on doing, spending the whole train ride in the halls?" James agreed, his awkward look quickly passing into mild curiosity as well.

By the time James was done, all three boys had the same odd smile in place, leaving Harry starting to wonder just how they'd introduce themselves to this girl, and rearing up some protective feelings in himself. They didn't look mean about it per say, but not like they were going to avoid her either. He decided to hold his tongue and see what they actually had to say about her first.

Sirius was distracted for a moment by blinking in recognition of something he'd never heard of before, then it clicked and he said, "oh, isn't that the magazine Arthur and Kingsley mentioned regarding me."

"Oh yeah, didn't you ever read that?" James demanded of his son.

"No," Harry muttered as the last of his summer came pressing in on him all the harder of Sirius' avoidance of him, even something they could have shared a laugh over about whatever this article was.

Both boys realized they hadn't made anything any better by asking Harry about this so James quickly moved on.

James gave a mock gasp in shock and turned wide eyes on his son while demanding, "really? Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Lily clucked her tongue impatiently and waved him on before Harry could respond.

"His responses have gotten far better since the twins did that," Sirius snickered.

Lily's face puckered with disappointment at that, hoping it was Neville's lingering awkwardness not wanting him to add in rather than him really trying to even downplay his being in there like that. Either option was really sad.

Sirius had a torn expression on his face now, like he couldn't decide if he should be laughing or moving on from this, but James decided on the latter for him.

"You didn't even mention the best parts of that gift last time," James got a dreamy look back on his face.

"Namely, getting you onto the Quidditch team as the youngest Seeker ever," Sirius emphasized like Harry would have forgotten this fact again.

Harry hadn't, but he laughed all the same for the reminder.

"Bummer," Remus snorted.

"Why?" Sirius balked.

"Did you really just ask why it's named that?" Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"Well it is a dumb name," James agreed fairly, "I couldn't even read it with a straight face."

"Fascinating description as always," Remus snickered.

"That bloke that dropped him out a window," Lily demanded with a raised brow.

"And gave Neville his toad," Harry reminded sheepishly.

Sirius scratched absently at his ear as he tried to understand how, or why, you'd breed a plant, but honestly didn't care enough to ask.

"Least I'm not the only one," Sirius agreed.

Lily frowned at him and opened her mouth, possible to give him a life long lecture he'd been avoiding in all his skipped Herbology classes, and so was as thankful as ever his best mate could take a hint and ignored the both of them.

James took one moment to blink, blink again, and then promptly the whole room collapsed with laughter for the mental image, Harry included.

Harry rolled his eyes indulgently as they enjoyed his misfortune, but the blith laughter was so needed in the tense room for so long he couldn't much stop his own laughter cracking through as he vividly remembered the scene.

"It's not poisonous is it?" Remus asked with more amusement than concern as clearly Harry was fine.

"Don't think so, but it stank worse than that troll did," Harry said.

"You should really be thanking Neville for waiting to find that out around you," James said, not even bothering to hide his laughter at this misfortune one bit.

"That timing," Remus yelped with a wince of sympathy, while James utterly lost it and collapsed in his seat laughing his arse off.

"I'm just so glad you're getting your kicks out of this, considering I wouldn't have been surprised to walk in on you doing something similar," Lily told him to try and get him to stop, despite her own twitching lips for the hilarity of the moment. It had no affect on James this time, even all his remembered spurns from his wife couldn't quell this moment, so she snatched the book away from him and when even that didn't work, she had to go on even louder over him and his snickering friends.

"Well she doesn't seem much fun," Remus told him conversationally over his still giggling friends. "What girl wouldn't want to join in on this fun."

Harry pouted at him and grumbled something about he hadn't wanted to join in this.

"You don't even know very cool people," Sirius chose now to point out to Harry. "It's not like we were in school with you at the time."

Harry really did whack his godfather upside the head for that, causing the others to laugh all the harder.

"But that's so much more memorable!" James wheezed out, finally coming back to himself and trying to grab the book back from Lily. She let it go, reluctantly. Harry would have protested if he could find his tongue yet, but it was still burning with the rest of his red face.

"She couldn't have done that while Cho was there?" Sirius pouted.

"Why would she want to," Lily reminded with a tittering laugh, Harry's face still astonishingly red and refusing to acknowledge his mindset telling him which girls name had given his stomach a flip at their picking.

"It's hardly fun to be doing that job," Remus agreed with sympathy.

"Oh, he isn't," Remus groaned, finally sobering some of James' laughter as he scowled at the next word.

"Argh!" Sirius sneered in disgust. "I wish I was more surprised, but that pompous, arrogant little toe rag was probably Snape's only option to Dumbledore!"

"You'd really think some other Slytherin would get some attention at some point to help balance things out," Lily sighed with regret.

"I think I like it when Hermione insults people," Sirius grinned at that, though he was the only one as the others were still angry at her for the last person she'd insulted according to them.

"Surprised he doesn't remember that part, as he hadn't spoken a word to her all night," Lily arched a reproachful brow.

"Or surprised to find this Luna in there," James smirked.

"Was she trying to say she was wishing Ron had asked her?" Sirius blinked in surprise.

"I don't think so," Harry said with as much assurance as he could, "just, she wouldn't have minded it." Even a vague sweep of his memories showed nothing between Ron and Luna.

The others weren't so sure after that, but they didn't really think Ginny would be giggling at Luna's attempts either, though that could have been because of her brothers face. They all let it go though as it could just be more of Luna's, quirkiness, that they'd already noticed.

"Honestly the only good part of the job," Remus agreed.

"Only if you abuse it," Lily muttered with a nasty look at him, he'd tried to dish out a few detentions to Snape once in awhile that hadn't always worked, but had clearly amused him at the time.

"That's an abuse of power!" Sirius smirked at his own brilliance while Remus smacked him for increasing the echo in here.

"I'll kiss Kreacher if you don't catch him doing so in the first week," Sirius scoffed.

"The only people that take the high road are the ones who don't know the secret tunnels," Sirius smirked.

"That was convoluted," Lily rolled her eyes at him, now repressing the urge to smack the lot of them.

Harry could feel his right fist clenching unconsciously at the mention of that, for this year in particular for some reason...

"Well that's just cruel," Remus smirked, "as he obviously can't help any such thing."

"I love that means even Hermione cracked," Sirius chuckled.

"I was just fixing to ask you the same thing," James finished with a bewildered stare at his son.

Harry opened his mouth, struggled to come up with any real comment, and then just shrugged with a bemused smile still in place.

"That seems a little violent, even for Fudge," Lily frowned in confusion.

"What kind of magazine was this again?" James asked before remembering Harry had never heard of it so reading on curiously.

"As if the Ministry would ever be stupid enough to step in there," Remus scoffed.

James at once felt like a weight had been slammed into him as he read that last one, the others gasping wildly while Sirius nearly fell of the couch in excitement as he squealed, "really?" He'd gone so long now with everyone in this future thinking him a crazy madman, he couldn't believe there was a person outside the Order who was putting this out there!

James would never dream of making something like that up as he read started back with high pitched excitement, the bubble of hope bouncing around inside him almost unfamiliar to him now.

"Merlin's pants, don't encourage the man's ideas for more name puns," Remus muttered even as he listened eagerly to see if someone other than them realized Sirius' innocence.

James had to squint hard at that, realized his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, and then kept going loudly more out of confusion and still some real hope in there anyone was going to shed some light on his innocent friend.

"Err, never," Remus kept trying to pick at his ear like he was sure he was hearing wrong, even if all the other blank faces were proof enough. "I mean, he's not bad, but-"

James interrupted what he found entirely pointless, to read, for once in his life.

James was just grateful the article hadn't supplied the name of that wizard...

"Okay, you started off really well, but then..." Lily trailed off as she wasn't sure what else to say about any of this. Of course Sirius had been there, but honestly she'd still take a fake reason for the Ministry letting this go and investigating further than the full truth, anything to get just one win, even a bitter one of that rat still not being their next victim.

James looked up to indicate he was done, to find Sirius with an actual look of consideration on his face before nodding and saying, "you know what, I'll take that. It's not as good as what I was hoping for, but honestly, I'll take anything at this point."

Lily still looked torn on whether she was supposed to be laughing or not, while Remus gave in and just started laughing because he wasn't sure what else to do with this new information. It seemed ludicrous in the way it was put, but he was on Sirius' side with one major point, his friend deserved some kind of break even if it was this one.

James couldn't find the room in him to laugh this off like the others, he was too busy realizing that Stinksap had just drowned his little hope bubble and now he felt like a fool for thinking Sirius could get off so easily. He forced himself to keep going past his stupid moment and ignored whatever looks he was getting from the others.

Harry was still looking on with a bemused expression, thinking his own thoughts weren't too far off on what was going on here.

"I don't know anyone who would have thought otherwise," Lily muttered.

James couldn't help his face to be twisted with agitation at the end. As if Sirius' story wasn't ludicrous enough, it had to be in the same magazine as this drivel. Great, so apparently the only one who could possible be rooting for Sirius' freedom besides them was a tabloid on par with Rita.

The others were feeling the same way, as depressed by their hopes being shot down as they had been at all the things said about him of late. Only Sirius could keep that insufferable smile in place that was getting harder by the moment to fake.

"Credit for originality," Remus sighed, wishing he could laugh at this more, but loosing any fun it could have considering how harsh the blow was this was being looked at as a joke.

"I don't even know where to start with that one," James muttered as his brows crept towards his hairline.

"Least that one's useful," Remus pretended to laugh.

"See, Harry agrees with me," Sirius snorted.

"Guess I'm not surprised she's heard of it," Lily sighed.

"Did she really have to say that while Luna was reading it," Harry frowned, that protective surge raising for her of all people. "Luna could enjoy reading that for fun."

"We've well established Hermione doesn't take note of who's around her when she speaks her mind," James sniffed.

"Ah," Remus said with a flinch on Hermione's part, she was just getting on everyone's nerves of late. "She managed to make that even worse."

"Another specialty of hers," James muttered.

"Have we yet to go a train visit without this one buggering in?" Sirius blustered, more than happy to switch off topic of that magazine, but not to this.

"Second year," Harry offered without any emphasis.

"And even then, I'll take the Whomping Willow over him," James huffed.

"Merlin's pants, end me now so I won't have to live with this for the next three books," Sirius groaned in disgust.

"I always counted my blessings Snively was never made Prefect for this exact reason," James groaned in disgust.

Causing everyone in here to laugh lightly.

"Wouldn't know," Harry snarked back under his breath.

Sirius opened his mouth with a happy little smirk in place, but Remus gave him such a hard whack over the head he yipped in protest and looked actually offended. "What the bloody hell was that for?"

"Malfoy recognized you, you idiot," he snapped back. "A whole mess of problems could be going on now because of that."

"Like what?" He demanded, still rubbing at the spot and looking more petulant than worried. "It's not a secret I'm going to be around Harry or that anyone on that platform with Harry was an Order member, they were all loyal to Dumbledore. Besides, exaggerating much Moony? People say dogging all the time."

"Trust me, we know, you always had to make the crack at school about how you'd better be extra careful to watch your step with them talking about you," James rolled his eyes. "I just wish you'd taken your own advice for once."

"You lot are ridiculous," Sirius sniffed, but he couldn't think how to argue back anymore either as James kept going with a lot more anxiety now.

"Or maybe he just doesn't read into every stupid little detail," Sirius sniffed, still rubbing the back of his head more for exaggerating his point than anything. Remus was now ignoring him.

"Gah!" Sirius snarled in frustration as he turned on Harry. "Not you too, what is wrong with the lot of you, acting like everything I do is a bad idea lately."

"Because it is," Lily told him like she was scolding a naughty child.

"Well we can't say it's nothing new at least," Remus muttered.

"Again, not a very well kept secret, if the Death Eaters know half as much as I think they do," Sirius reminded with a particularly ugly look in place for where they could have possibly learned all that information.

"That's inconvenient," Remus said just to make James stop reading with so much strain of late. Despite their worry, Remus just had to remember Sirius was going to be fine, he had to be. "I always wonder why we couldn't just leave our pets on the train as well as our luggage, we only release them as soon as we step inside anyways."

James only agreed absently, clearly still reading with his mind back on that grim place Sirius was back at.

"What?" They all muttered in confusion, Harry with absolute concern as his mind swapped from a nagging worry he couldn't understand about Sirius, to whoever this vaguely familiar voice had been.

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry demanded of no one.

Clearly no one around him knew, but it only seemed to make Harry's panicky feelings that much worse. First Sirius, now Hagrid, what was happening to all of his friends?

"Relax Harry," Lily managed a soothing voice quite well considering her own worry for the man she considered a friend even not having known him very well in her own time. Anyone who cared so much about Harry though she held a personal connection with. "He's been tied up with some creatures from time to time like last year with the Skrewts, I'm sure it's nothing to get worked up over."

No one really believed her, not even herself, as surely McGonagall or some other teacher would be out there then, not the replacement of Hagrid's last time he'd been missing whole classes.

"I can't imagine why they'd both be out there," Remus disagreed gently.

"That's, an option," Sirius said, though as unconvinced as Harry as Hagrid had a great immune system and rarely if ever got sick by anything like the sniffles.

Harry couldn't help a nasty shiver, his return to Hogwarts felt foreboding with how alone he suddenly felt in that moment.

"Oh yeah, guess you'll be seeing those now," Remus blinked in surprise as he listened intently. He'd only known one person who'd watched someone die to see them in person, but despite the black circumstances that Harry now could, he'd much rather hear from him than his first source.

Harry's eyes had grown steadily wider as he recalled the presence of these beasts, the question coming out of him so quietly it took a second for Remus to realize he'd spoken at all.

"Why can I see them now?"

Remus couldn't stop the bubbling enthusiasm that always captured him when he was speaking of any beasts, even ones so grim as these. "They're such a rare thing, because only people who have seen death can see them."

Harry's eyes actually went wider at such an explanation, but his voice came out a bit more normal with the interaction. "So why am I seeing them now, and not when I left school last year."

Remus winced as he tried to explain this, "it really is a loose interpretation of 'seeing death.' It took you a while to, ah, process and recognize for the death of, well for it all to sink in." He hated watching Harry pail at even the remainder of this, so he kept babbling about the other facets that he both knew and had speculated on over the years just to keep a better focus. "Wonderful creatures really, highly intelligent, can travel anywhere just by your asking them to take you. We've mentioned they can carry Hagrid, that should tell you something of their strength, ah they're one of the rarest forms a patronus can take, oh and there's this fascinating rumor their tail is the core in the-"

"Can you see the patronus if you haven't seen someone die?" James cut him off as he'd never heard that one.

"I've never seen it in person, but the text I read certainly implied as much," Remus agreed. "It is your magical guardian after all, while still in patronus form."

Harry's eyes were still wide, though now with surprise at learning this than whatever his brain had been trying to process with something in regards to those things, and a trip? He shut that off and kept asking for more, "does that mean that persons animagus would be a Thestral as well? Could you see yourself if you transformed?"

"Yes, and honestly, I have no clue," Remus pouted at the end. "As I said, extraordinarily rare for this to occur, magical beasts in general take a very particular person to have such a thing as other animals are far more common."

Harry pouted as he'd have liked to keep this going, but James saw he was almost done with his chapter and so tried to finish.

"It really would be nice to have someone mention this at some point," Lily winced. "I remember this second year girl I knew who cried when she saw them and no one else could, thought she was losing her mind. One of the elder kids explained it to her, but honestly if he hadn't that poor thing would still probably be a bit traumatized."

"What are they supposed to do, put cards on the carriages saying, 'these are not pulling themselves, you just can't see the things doing it'?" Sirius rolled his eyes at her. "That would make them all think it even weirder."

Lily huffed but still planned on trying to come up with some other way that wouldn't scare the piss out of youngsters for this happening.

"Those who are surprised, please raise their hand," James snorted in disgust even as he didn't bother looking up.

James rolled his eyes and tsked in annoyance even as Lily pinched him to get him to stop, she was saving a spot for them, not going on without them.

Harry felt a nasty feeling crawling the back of his neck as he saw something Ron couldn't. It didn't matter he'd been given an explanation for it upfront now, he could already feel his mind laughing at him for seeing things that weren't really there...

All three boys were twitching with unease. Like Lily, they'd had a conversation similar to this at the beginning of their second year, and they'd had a good laugh that he was pulling something on them as a long running gag for ages before Remus had actually discovered what they were. They'd felt bad none of them had believed their friend for so long, now they were looking back on the instance and just wishing they'd called him crazy and abandoned him from their life while they had the chance.

"Oh please don't tell me he's going to start worrying about me now," Sirius pouted, ducking on instinct as Remus made to hit him again for doing that joke for the third time in one chapter.

"There's some relief," James muttered, bouncing in place in agitation as it felt nothing lately could keep something bad from cropping back up in his mind.

"For some reason, I don't find that all too comforting," Sirius made a stab at a joke which everyone ignored.

"And Harry even agrees with me," Sirius said triumphantly while James smiled at him for his Padfoot still trying to make jokes when no one else wanted him to. There was some comfort his best friend wasn't changing in here any time soon.

HPHPHPHPHPHP

In regards to the Thesteral thing, I've answered in previous chapters why Harry couldn't see them before now regarding Quirrell, didn't even know he was dead until told, and while he 'technically' saw his mother die, he did not in fact recognize what was happening in his infant self therefore it dosen't count.


	11. THE SORTING HAT'S NEW SONG

To Guest: Sorry, not in the foreseeable future, mostly because of how much I'm working on top of starting a class here soon. I'll still try to get an extra one in sometimes, and I'm aiming to finish by 4th of July so I am going to have to start adding in extra chapters at some point. I might just do a ton at the end like I did last time, and the Department of Mysteries chapters will all go up every other day or some such. That's the plan right now anyways.

HPHPHPHPHP

Sirius took the book even with that knot of unease still residing in him that he refused to acknowledge purely for his friends benefit. If they saw how much his own future problems were worrying him, then they'd be freaking out even more, Sirius never let anything bother him. Instead he started with absolute amusement. Harry was back at school, and even considering all the problems he'd had in previous years there, at least they got more fun out of that place than old Grimmauld could ever offer.

"I think that's pushing bounds a bit, even by magic standards," Lily smirked. "I can't see any two people having the exact same hallucination."

"Gee thanks," Harry rolled his eyes at her.

"He would never," James said at once with absolute conviction.

Remus though, suddenly looked contemplative as he remembered back to the end of last year, and how Hagrid may have been planning a little trip...and then he quickly grew worried of how that could have turned out. He kept his silence though, seeing no point in worrying Harry further until he had proof. Missions like those could take time, longer than a few months, and Hagrid was even tougher than him.

"Hey!" Harry, James, and Sirius all snapped at once.

The three glared at the other two, but while Remus looked chagrined and still didn't say anything, Lily shrugged without remorse. "I adore Hagrid and of course I don't want anything to happen to him, but you've all admitted he's not the best teacher. Without the knowledge we have of him with Harry, we'd probably be thinking the same thing."

"Not the point," Sirius muttered in annoyance as he turned back.

Remus at least gave a weak laugh for that.

"Got to admire this girl," Sirius said grudgingly, "she speaks her mind, even when she clearly realizes she touched a nerve."

"She's like Hermione, except a spot more ah, with more of a um," James struggled to put into words how he was processing Luna, and then just let himself die off.

The others couldn't help agreeing now, Luna certainly had a way about her that even while speaking her mind which so annoyed them of Hermione lately, they couldn't stay mad at this girl as she clearly wasn't speaking for even hurtful intent. It was more of a free spirited comment.

Harry still couldn't get these strange creatures out of his mind as he asked, "how come I couldn't see them at the beginning of last year, when I saw Frank Bryce die?"*

That stumped them for a moment, but Remus recovered first and worked out, "you didn't really process his death as more than a dream for a long time, even when Dumbledore confirmed those things you were seeing were real you still seemed to feel detached from them. Then you would have seen his ghost at the same time as-" he had to forecfully stop himself because Harry flincehd and looked happy enough with this answer.

"I still think you raise a very good point about Ron's, and most wizards reaction to these types of things though." Lily said with interest. "With the mirror you two just accepted you saw different things, why then does Ron think you're losing it for this same instance?"

"First of all, those little kids wouldn't question if Merlin had appeared they were so new to magic in general," Sirius smirked at her.

"But mostly, it's because we were taught magic has boundaries." James shrugged. "You can't bring people back from the dead, you shouldn't trust things you don't know the magical source of. The mirror was a clearly defined item that showed your deepest desires. This instance however, without any context, Harry is insisting something is as it shouldn't be. Even magic has rules, and magic shouldn't be able to explain that until it does."

Lily still looked interested enough in the idea she would have kept going, but Sirius just didn't care enough to sit around and hear the two go on about this so he kept reading loudly over them.

Sirius really wanted to get that pale tone out of Harry's skin, so he blurted out the first question that came to mind, "think Thestrals can see each other?"**

Harry at least looked interested in this topic as it didn't directly link to him anymore and watched eagerly as Remus considered it for a moment and theorized, "no, I wouldn't think so. Of course we've no real idea, but honestly they may be visible to each other. Of course, perhaps all animals can see them, and the magic concealing them from people other than those who have seen death just don't work on more simplistic creatures. There's an honest debate for both options."

"Thank you Padfoot, you have just given Moony a whole essay to go writing," James snorted in amusement.

"Exactly how well were you getting away with that?" Sirius smirked which Harry answered by blushing and muttering.

"Well they're being as subtle as ever," Lily sniffed in annoyance.

"I'm surprised it took you so long to offer the idea," James said.

"Wanted to cover all our bases he wasn't at school," Harry sighed with disappointment.

"Wonder who's taking care of Fang, or do you think he came along?" Sirius quickly inserted.

They spent a giggling moment picturing all the teachers taking turns to care for Hagrid's dog in his absences, James getting the best laugh as he pictured tiny Professor Flitwick only just reaching Fang's head trying to fit a leash around the pooch.

"I'm guessing the new DADA teacher's already around," Sirius sighed as he gave his friend the stink eye for not being in attendance.

"I'm honestly surprised you haven't run into them yet," Lily rolled her eyes. "Have you lot realized Harry's met three and at least heard mention of every person before he got there."

"No, I hadn't," James blinked in surprise as all those circumstances sure seemed a lot to take in now that he was.

They all sat there for a moment in confusion as they had no idea what to make of this woman's arrival. There just seemed no reason for it to exist, unless something like the Tournament was happening again, in which case Merlin help them all.

Sirius came out of it first with a hard shake as he demanded, "what, has Fudge got someone attending the school regularly now? I guess she's going to be inviting herself to the feasts and public school events to keep an eye on Dumbledore now?"

"And Dumbledore's to polite to turn her down," James agreed with his face squidged up in annoyance.

"This is a new low, just unprecedented, even for the Ministry." Remus shook his head in disgust. "I can't believe they're trying to poke their nose into Hogwarts like this."

"Trying and succeeding," Lily muttered with disgust as the idea of her job actively trying to get inside information on the school now boggled her mind. What exactly did this woman think she was going to accomplish by doing this? Where was the motive?

Harry still felt the worst of all, because he was getting a very bad feeling they weren't entirely right, but very close to the mark.

"Always love Ron noting the important things," Sirius smirked.

"Don't know what she's on," Lily said curiously.

"Don't know, but how come no one else new is there either?" James brushed off onto more important things. "You should have a new DA teacher around as well."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, felt a nasty jolt for the effort, and gave in with a shrug. Sirius saved him from having to respond anyways by saying, "maybe he or she just isn't there yet, Moody got there kind of late."

"Fake Moody, and look how well that turned out," Remus grimaced in annoyance.

Sirius was suddenly brimming with excitement as he got the chance to sing the school song this time!

Sirius bounded to his feet and then flopped down on James' other side, squishing him right up next to his wife and leaving no one with any personal space as James eagerly leaned over anyways and the two began in perfect harmony;

The two finished with a triumphant high five while the others were all snickering away at the performance, but Remus decided that had indeed earned them some applause which they each took a bow for. Then James promptly shoved Sirius off of him and stated, "if I wanted you sitting on my lap I'd have long since told you."

Sirius was still chuckling as he went back over to his seat, and then theatrically spread himself out so he was invading Harry's personal space this time. Harry's only response was to push his Godfather's elbow out of his face but otherwise ignored the proximity with comfort as he kept going.

"Ah," Lily nodded to herself as she guessed what that meant. "This would be the first time they've heard a warning in theirs like ours usually held."

"It's been wierder for us hearing these pleasant versions all about the different houses," Remus agreed to Harry's curious look.

James and Sirius only looked more mildly disappointed the hat's actual words was getting more attention than their performance. Sometimes they missed being in the halls and having all eyes focused on them.

"I miss childlike ignorance," Remus winced, all of them taking a moment and wishing Harry had asked the same, instead of simply looking resignedly around the room as he must have realized himself the Hat really hadn't been all pleasantries.

"It's good the first years learn that look now," James grinned.

"Didn't do you lot any good," Lily snorted.

"Was he doing that for himself, or for you," Sirius chuckled.

"Honestly, how they don't lead a chant in congradulations is beyond me," James rolled his eyes, though to be honest he was pleased no other first year besides himself had ever tried.

The smile that flickered across his face at the moment of seeing his Headmaster again during this day was jarred as he began muttering to himself almost unconsciously about how he wished that's where the surprises would end. They all hoped they were just understanding him wrong, that he could just go this year without something happening to him.

Sirius and James were getting a good laugh out of that mental image.

"Sirius, you can't try to read and laugh at the same time, you sound ridiculous," Lily rolled her eyes at him. "Besides, it's not that funny to watch people stuff their mouths like chipmunks."

"Ron was talking with his mouth full," Harry explained for him, an amused smile himself present at watching Sirius try to reenact that.

"I find it a sad note I understood that the first time," Remus sighed. "I clearly need to have stopped responding to them at some point when that kind of speech makes sense."

"We've no idea what you're talking about," James said saintly while Sirius didn't bother to deny it and kept reading while still half giggling.

"You don't have to be friends with Malfoy to have Slytherin friends," Lily frowned reproachfully at him. "Have you ever even mentioned any others by name except him and his little group? Not all of them are the same you know."

"At the time I didn't," Harry defended, before relenting, "but no, I hardly looked past him when speaking about the house, and I am sorry for that now. I do wish I had taken more opportunity to get to know any others, but a time never came where it wasn't always Malfoy around, so," he finished with an imploring look that she understood, which she did and gave in the argument.

"What would a ghost have to be terrified of?" Sirius scoffed at Ron's goofy comment.

"Basilisk," James muttered under his breath, but thankful Sirius hadn't lingered for a real answer.

"Certainly no one's going to stop him," Remus couldn't help a little laugh at both parties entirely overinflating this. "Ron's just mouthing off and now Nick's throwing a ghost tantrum."

"I liked Nick better when he was showing off his severed head to first years," Harry chuckled.

"I take that to mean he was simply eating again while Nick was telling him off," James snorted.

"Don't know why something like this would stop him," Sirius snickered.

"Well what more could he want?" James raised a challenging brow, that smirk still in place.

"Actual words would be a nice start," Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"If she was so offended on Nick's part, she should have said something while he was still around," Remus rolled his eyes.

"She has a tendency to do that alot lately, speak her mind when the party isn't around," James huffed.

Lily suddenly felt a smack deep in her heart as she realized she'd never even asked Harry's favorite food. She'd simply whipped something up like always as her boys usually ate anything, and Harry had as well without a trace of showing dislike. It was another of those small details though, one that she'd have just thought she'd know when her son reached those ages of declaring his favorite foods. She honestly wished sometimes she could put this book down and just sit around for ages, asking him of all his favorite likes and dislikes, but the problem was if they went too long into any conversation he started having a poke at his memories to understand something odd, and then he'd go hurting himself again. Even knowing the good this was doing, she still often wished she could be doing other things regarding her baby that was all grown up.

"I don't know what you're smirking about, you've had some pretty horrifying experiences in there," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Just laughing to ourselves of what Dumbledore could mean," Harry batted his eyes innocently.

"I honestly believe that he's kept count to," Remus nodded.

"And there's always a high demand to keep that updated," James rolled his eyes.

"Especially considering how many horrid students go out of their way to keep adding to said list," Sirius tacked on with an affronted look at the idea he actually held for a few seconds.

Harry made a guttural noise of protest as he tried to fight the book away from Sirius, exclaiming, "he didn't say for how long! Surely it's not permanent!"

Sirius managed to win the fight and keep the book in his possession even as he gave Harry a sympathetic look while answering, "relax pup, I'm positive Hagrid's fine and Dumbledore's just trying not to draw attention to him being gone by not bringing up his name."

"It's impossible not to draw attention to him when he's not where he's supposed to be," Harry said back belligerently as he sat back with a huff. Sirius winced, wishing he had a better answer for him as he tried to move on.

Five jaws dropped in a stunning silence.

This was somehow even weirder than the idea of Moody teaching! That woman worked for the Ministry! So unless something had happened in a very short time from her getting fired as Senior Undersecretary, a highly unlikely scenario given her clear defense of them during Harry's trial, than that meant she was working there and at Hogwarts now! She was actually working at Hogwarts!

Harry felt a nasty tingling racing over the back of his right hand, his left moving to cover the faint white markings as he was truly derailed from Hagrid and left with a pit of worry for this news. Never before, not even Lockhart and Quirrell, had set off such a bad feeling in him as realizing he'd be spending a year in this woman's classroom.

Lily found her voice first, and it wasn't pretty as she said in a flat, icy tone, "just what is going on here? The Ministry at Hogwarts? Why on earth did Dumbledore hire this woman?"

"I'm drawing a blank," Remus winced, burrowing himself that much further into his seat as he imagined the scenario while he'd been at school, and how much worse his life could have been at the time. Considering all the things Harry got up to on a regular basis, this could be a new level of hell for the poor boy as well.

James and Sirius exchanged a truly uneasy look for this prospect as well, nothing was sitting right about this interference to their school, but Sirius forced himself to keep going no matter that feeling just to get a few more facts.

"That's the bit you caught on?" Lily wasn't that surprised, but was smiling at her son for his one track mind on his friend.

"How would I know it was so weird, sure the Ministry hadn't anything to do with Hogwarts before now," Harry shrugged, "but I was more concerned with my friend first."

"What's she got to do with Quidditch trials?" James wrinkled his nose in disgust as he tried to wave Sirius onto this very important topic.

Harry felt a knot forming in his stomach at the idea for some reason he had no care to investigate.

Sirius looked like someone had taken his broom out from beneath him as he gazed down at that bit before glancing up in even more confusion. No one had ever cut Dumbledore off from one of his speeches. Just who did this woman think she was?

"Dumbledore's had some odd moments, but this tops them all." Remus was gazing blearily forward like he was trying to understand some foreign language as Sirius read this.

"I'll be happy to inform her," Sirius said in an entirely pleasant tone that covered nothing of the intent behind those words.

Harry was getting double the amount of those feelings on him now, the combination of his predisposition and his memories trying to warn him all culminating with a truly ugly look set in place that honestly gave the lot of them chills. What on earth does this woman do?!

Remus raised an imperious brow at the start of this, demanding, "what are they, five?"

James and Sirius weren't even bothering to do as such.

Lily let out a giggle of her own.

Sirius could already start to feel himself fidgeting with boredom. Yeah, teachers were great, could Harry leave now.

"That is a genuinely new expression, I'm jealous we never got to see," James said randomly as he pulled out his wand and began twirling it in his fingers with boredom.

Lily was starting to get a bad feeling for this as she watched Sirius critically, who was now trying to mime Binns and doing a fair job of it. She wasn't falling for it though, this woman's first day she'd already begun showing a level of disrespect for the Headmaster, now she was giving a whole speech on the structure of the school and how that could be...progressed. She still couldn't shake the thought that someone so directly involved in the Ministry was there, just what was going on?

James and Sirius weren't acting much better, both becoming fidgety and bored as Sirius' eyes were already trying to skip down to the bottom where this was done, none of them seemed to particularly care whatever was being said right now, she'd already lost their respect for the way she'd treated Harry at his trial. Lily and Remus were still listening, but passively, they couldn't work up much care for whatever this woman said and as of now it mostly sounded like some pompous bit to impress, and was managing to have the opposite effect. In fact it was rather dumb, to start speaking to them as if single digit children and then launch into such a scholarly speech.

Harry was the only one keeping such sharp attention and absorbing every word. At fifteen he may not have given any more of a care than any of his fellow students, but that intuition was back full force now telling him to keep an eye on this one and he wasn't going to be ignoring that.

Remus couldn't help a little chuckle at that insert, already imagining what he and his friend could get away with in class if this was how she was going to be acting now.

By this point James was slumped over in his seat mock snoring and Sirius couldn't recollect a thing he'd just said in regards to her. They were all just glad it was over and were already hoping Harry would start skipping her classes right off the bat.

James jerked upright, mock wiping drool from his lip and muttering, "sorry Professor, miss anything important?"

Sirius was just snickering that Dumbledore hadn't allowed any proper applause to happen as it shouldn't.

"That's saying something," Remus smirked.

"Because that clarified everything," Lily snorted.

"And not even a tasty, good waffle," Sirius sighed tragically.

"Jelly filling?" Remus asked innocently.

"Thought she was just spouting things about tradition and such," Remus scratched at his ear without concern. "What's Hermione getting so worked up over?"

"Hermione gets worked up over everything," James rolled his eyes.

"Usually with good reason," Harry half-heartedly defended.

That caught all of their attention. Sirius began fidgeting uneasily with the pages as he thought that over, looking up hopefully when Lily said, "I, but they, why?" Well that wasn't helpful.

"I, Fudge is out of his mind!" Remus yelped in concern.

"If that's even what's going on," James persisted in utter denial. "Hermione could be wrong, there could be another reason for her being there..." he trailed off and looked hopefully around for someone to offer up said suggestion, but they were all coming up blank as what Hermione said really was the only explanation for a Ministry employ also being a teacher!

Sirius forced himself to keep going with a now dry throat in thought for all the implications this could hold for his school. Just what was the Ministry playing at?

"Hey, we never got to find out when the Quidditch try outs are," James pouted.

Lily smacked him and muttered something about priorities.

This was so unexpected everyone gave a surprised burst of laughter, happy Ron was always around for that at least, even if it didn't erase one spot of worry in them.

"I can at least see why she was made Prefect, we always knew she'd take well to authority," James rolled his eyes.

"Actually I'm confident you did," Remus smirked, "since I can still all to easily picture James that same way still, just replace Sirius with Ron."

"Nah, cause those two were at the front trying to lead the way when they had no idea where they were going," Lily reminded indulgently, at least giving Harry a moment to laugh at the idea.

"Merlin's pants, just what was that Prophet saying about you?" Sirius demanded tartly as the exact same thing happened to Harry in here.

"First years have always been intimidated by him," Lily tried without much hope. "Surely it can't all be because of those lies."

Harry chose not to respond, instead gazing at the fire and trying to count in his head how long this nightmare would last.

Harry felt the nasty chills creeping up his spine for being separated from his friends twice already since he was at the school in his first night. He was wishing he'd found Neville and gone along with him, or even dogged the twins up to their tower. He truly hated this feeling of isolation he could already sense pressing in on him from all sides.

They were all fidgeting with unease at the reemergence of this topic. Surely the students wouldn't really gawk at Harry for that though...and none of them could deny they honestly believed it.

"That's a recurring thing for you," James managed a sarcastic laugh.

"Hermione's almost always the one who knows it," Harry muttered without looking at him.

Harry did feel a grin reaper for that at least, thankful he did still have a friend to rely on even if it wasn't one of his best friends.

The others were just blinking in surprise of this change, vividly remembering Neville's previous occurrences with this problem and some of the trouble it had caused.

"Naww," Lily cooed with delight at the bright smile she could all to easily picture on Alice's face being passed down to her son for this moment.

"I'll bet you McGonagall had something to do with that," Sirius chuckled.

"I can almost picture it," Remus agreed. "If Neville sent word along to Sprout he was bringing that plant, and Sprout mentioned it to McGonagall..." he trailed off with a soft laugh that they all joined in on for this small but adorable little moment.

The boys perked up with interest at that, anything the twins got up to they always wanted to know more about.

"How come they don't just leave them up in between years, it's not as if we switch beds," Harry had never bothered to ask before.

"The house-elves would throw them out," Sirius sighed. "Whatever you don't take, you won't see again."

"It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you," Remus muttered under his breath, all of them wincing in fear of Harry's dorm mates even treating him like this. Surely at least they must know Harry wasn't crazy, they spent too much time around him!

"Got attacked by dementors, nearly expelled, and discovered the secret group trying to stop Voldemort all while dealing with my emotional godfather," Sirius ticked off on his fingers. "I really don't see how much harder that is."

"Well that's all easy for you to say, considering you'd refuse to give any further details," James snickered as Harry at least tried for a smile in agreement. It wasn't working too well, he could already feel a fight coming, not something he was looking forward to in his dorm with someone he at least considered a passing friend with any of those boys.

Harry watched those around him wince, but he wasn't entirely sure he understood that sad look of familiarity on their face.

Thankfully his mum explained for him, "that was a common recurrence during our school days. Parents spent a lot of time going back and forth between thinking their families were safest at home together, and then putting them back in school for a time when things seemed to be going quiet so they could have an education, than flipping right back. Looks like that's starting again."

Harry frowned in sympathy at the idea, but for some reason he wasn't entirely sure that covered his own building problem with whom he was now sure involved Seamus.'

Harry twitched in concern for that, but felt like he was the only one noticing this little oddity on Seamus part. The others were still looking on in sympathy for the plight.

"That's not just a trait of there's, regrettably," Remus sneered. "Fear makes people do the most foolish things."

Harry still wished those things would stop involving him already.

That caught them off guard, but only for a moment until they realized that it wasn't fear of Voldemort's return on Mrs. Finnegan's part like they'd assumed. Instead it was much worse, and now everyone was as tense as Harry, ready for a fight to break out.

James could feel a biting comment on the tip of his tongue he was just begging to lash out with, no one got to talk to his son like that!

Lily could feel her lip trembling for several reasons, only one of which was anger now. What she wouldn't give for this not to be happening to her child, when he'd never asked for any of these things to happen to him. He'd never gone out of his way and brought any of these people down on him, yet he was constantly used by nearly every damn person in the wizarding world who'd never even bothered to meet him.

No one was currently thinking much kinder.

"Would it really help if I gave details!" Harry hissed furiously. "Do they all really want to know I looked in him in the eye as his body-" he shuddered and broke off, couldn't even continue in anger.

Sirius hesitated, wanting to offer some word of comfort to Harry, they all did, but this wasn't something you could shoot a whisky over and force yourself to keep going. That wasn't a Death Eater you'd seen fall that you could convince yourself was done for some tangible good reason. Harry had been forced to see a brutal murder done all to get to him, and now he was surrounded by children who wanted the gory details without considering what they were asking for.

Harry realized what he'd said aloud, why the others had gone silent and so quietly asked Sirius to keep going. Sirius didn't entirely want to, he still worried that Harry deserved something to be said to him, but he supposed he should give himself something to do until he could come up with that.

Sirius felt a bark of laughter escape him, knowing he'd back Harry in a moment in saying much worse to any of these prats.

"Yet he acts as if he can talk to Harry any way he wishes," Remus snarled.

"Just like Malfoy, can't take what they dish out," James sneered.

"Then he shouldn't have brought her into this," Sirius pointed out with an unfriendly smile.

Lily had a few things she'd like to say as well, but she was at least trying to restrain herself by running her hand through her hair. She knew the boys only saw themselves as backing Harry, but she at least liked to think she wasn't egging on the fight.

"What a thing to walk in on," muttered Remus as he shook his head imagining Ron just walking into the middle of this and how off that must be.

Sirius had his eyes narrowed dangerously, still smarting over Ron's treatment of Harry last year and how he'd claimed to not believe Harry about the start of that stupid tournament. Ron of course knew the truth of this situation, but he supposedly should have known better then, and had apparently spent that time hanging around Dean and Seamus. If Ron actually tried to play peacemaker instead of backing his friend, Sirius would have a few things to say about him next.

No one else understood the almost relieved smile Sirius got there for a moment, but he didn't elaborate, now reading on with just a touch less venom now that Harry had backup.

James half wished he would say it, let Ron put that power to some good use right out of the gate. No one noticed Harry pale a couple extra shades at the mention of a detention, his right hand fidgeting up a storm.

"I do love the way he phrases that," Remus couldn't help but snort. "Not them, but their parents."

"Most children do follow their parents beliefs. Not all of them," Lily amended when she saw Sirius roll his eyes in contempt, "but it's a fair question."

"That's so sad," Lily murmured, but with understanding. She'd rarely confided in her parents all of the gory details she often heard of from Voldemort's reign, but she couldn't bare leaving them completely ignorant either. Not exclusive commentary, some things she couldn't bare sharing about her world in fear it would make her parents fear her like Petunia did. She hadn't her sister to talk to, and after a certain point no friend either, she'd needed someone, and her mother had always been there for her even if she hadn't always understood Lily's tearful yet forced normal conversations.

"He says that like it's a good thing," James had his head cocked to the side in agitation as he assessed that.

"You sure know how to cause a scene Harry," Sirius was full blown smiling at that. "Walk into a room, and suddenly you've got people declaring themselves to your side."

Harry tried to flatten his hair while he couldn't come up with anything to say but gratitude for Neville and his gran.

They were all twitching uncomfortably as the fight broiled down and now Harry was left to his own mind again. This was a passing kid whom they had no real feelings towards other then as one of Harry's dorm mates, but he made a good point. Just how many people was this going to keep happening to? When would Sirius' prediction come true, and Voldemort would finally be revealed? Just how many people would Harry have to keep fighting with just to make himself heard, and how many would come groveling back after the fact to try and sucker back up to him. None of the answers to those questions left anything good in this future.

"He would never," Remus said at once. "Honestly Harry, he's never gotten into contact with you before this summer either. I agree circumstances had changed and you should have been told more, but Dumbledore isn't taking this out on you."

"Then why hasn't he bothered to even look at me, especially at the trial!" Harry persisted, this had clearly lingered with him.

"I'm sure there must be a reason," he tried to sooth, which didn't come across very effectively since he began fidgeting with unease he had no real answer.

Sirius looked between the two before shaking his head in defeat, hoping they got some answers soon, or Harry was going to drive himself crazy soon trying to find answers from himself rather than waiting on them.

"Chapter's over," Sirius groaned in disgust as he hesitated giving the book to Harry. The poor boy already looked so agitated on his first day there, it felt like nothing had been going right for him for ages, and that deeply contemplative look he still had in place made it feel like nothing good was coming.

*Thanks to aaquater for the question!

**Thank maana999 for the question!


	12. PROFESSOR UMBRIDGE

To Roxpox: I don't currently plan on the epilogue being posted, I may change my mind, but as of now it's not on my work list. The topic will come up again during the seventh book.

HPHPHPHP

Harry knew he was supposed to be reading next, but he was reluctant to take the book from Sirius. He could already feel the bad beginning to the start of his latest school year, and it wasn't comforting he couldn't find much in him promising it would get better before it got worse. Still, with nothing else he could think to do, that yearning still present within him to learn all of his memories and be whole prevailed more than any 'feeling' as he cracked open his start.

"Is this something we should be worried about!" Sirius yelped, already trying to scramble madly away from Harry. "A little warning sooner next time!"

"Too late, everyone in here's already round the bend," Remus snorted.

"I resemble that," James snickered, while Lily wanted to protest but still had yet to deny any claims she hadn't begun dating James with all her sanity intact either so didn't press.

Harry rolled his eyes affectionately at the lot of them, he never grew tired of watching them poke fun at these things.

"I could never live with such a thing," Sirius gasped.

"Only because you always have to have the last word," Remus rolled his eyes.

"My point exactly," Sirius proved Moony's own point.

Lily fidgeted with unease that none of them had an actual answer for him. What she wouldn't give just to know this all had to have a happy ending. What exactly had Harry left in his own time after all? Who's to say this didn't drag on for years to come, he had after all arrived clearly in the heat of some battle...and she both wished and was grateful she couldn't dwell on this more.

"What exactly does that look like?" James asked as he eyed Harry.

"Sounded like exasperated, which he probably was already with Seamus' attitude," Lily sighed.

"Just what are they getting up to?" James demanded at once with an eager grin.

"Sounds to me like they're trying to find further test subjects than themselves," Lily arched a brow with trepidation. Testing it on themselves was one thing, but other people? She did suppose she could see the pro's of it, at least while doing this at school they could rely on Madam Pomfrey to fix any screw ups and it was smart to see if anyone other than themselves would have side effects before mass selling their things like they so intended doing...but still, this just felt wrong no matter the good spin she tried putting on it. Then again, she'd never looked into how most normal magical objects were tested and distributed, that was in fact a section she'd be coming to very soon in her work, so this could be interesting at least.

"I like that they put the warning directly below 'virtually painless," Remus snickered.

"Open honesty at least," Sirius said with absolute chipper.

"Hey!" James yelped in protest at once. "Merlin she's as bad as their mother! Who's she to be doing that."

"A prefect," Remus reminded him like his friend had gone temporarily daft. "That really was stupid of them to just post in the common room like that, I am positive that is somehow against school rules."

Sirius kept going as if Remus hadn't even spoken, "I know, leave them to their own devices, it's not affecting her."

Lily really wondered why Remus bothered at some point, and by the look on his face, so did he.

"Who's this they?" Remus did agree with his friends scandalized looks about that. "The sign was stupid on their part, but Hermione really needs to get a grip trying to drag Ron into her problem with the twins."

"I love that Moony always agrees with us," James smirked, while Remus rolled his eyes, and Lily just rubbed her forehead at her idiots.

"I would to," Harry winced, "I've never even had older brothers, but the idea of telling one off sounds ludicrous. Let alone those particular two."

"No," Sirius snorted, "your job is to pretend in front of the teachers to act like you're looking after the first years, and then go about your life like everyone else."

"I think Hermione needs to reread her instruction manual," James agreed.

"They didn't get an instruction manual," Harry frowned in confusion.

"Exactly," Sirius concluded.

"Why didn't you answer?" James said in surprise.

"I was trying to think of how to say everything on my mind, Ron just cut right to the chase," Harry said.

"Sometimes you think too much," Sirius rolled his eyes, he'd never had a problem telling his mates whatever was on his mind.

"Really?" Lily's tone held full disgust. "One of Trelawney's little pets, who believes every ridiculous thing that comes out of that womans mouth, has the gall to claim you a liar?"

"Of all the unbelievers in this, you'd think those of Trelawney's type would enjoy the prospect of more death and mayhem to come," James sniffed angrily.

"Think she'll change her tune the second Trelawney says something about it in class?" Remus grumbled.

"That, or she'll start disbelieving the woman," Sirius shrugged, now looking almost curious to see how this could play out.

"Oh yes, I'm so sure you come up in between the pillow fights and manicures," Lily frowned at him. "Hermione's never shown to be on good terms with them, cut her some slack."

Harry did look properly chagrined for that, he had felt instantly bad for lashing out at Hermione.

Harry looked even more glum now that he couldn't properly apologize to his friends like they deserved. He had indeed been taking every moment to rag on them and could properly realize away from the moments they hadn't deserved much of any of it. He owed his friends a lot, and not just for being there while he vented, very vocally.

Lily at least looked happy for the apology, but Harry didn't look any better, still feeling that growing ache more every day to see his friends again, to know that they were okay.

"I feel like that's a very common occurrence we don't get to hear enough of," Sirius snipped to lighten the mood back up, and it worked as Harry rolled his eyes at him again.

"How does she remember stuff like that verbatim!" Remus went wide eyed in surprise.

"Hermione really is a gem," Lily could only think to answer with pure indulgence.

"I really am surprised she didn't take the moment to rub it in," James rolled his eyes.

Harry frowned right back and said, "she dosen't really that much, considering how much smarter than us she is. She was trying to make a point, not let Ron distract her with an argument."

"We're not talking about Slytherins though, we're talking about people from our own house. Good place to start before moving on," Sirius sighed with some sympathy for what Hermione was saying.

Harry frowned at him in surprise, but then he reflected none of the Marauders had really made it a point to be Slytherin haters other than just the one outstanding student. If Sirius, who'd even had family in the house he was defending, could say such a thing, Harry wished he really had taken some more time at some point to look beyond Malfoy.

Sirius made a face he'd said the exact same thing as Hermione, while James made the exact same face at him for it as well.

"You mean you don't!" James demanded. "Harry, what on earth do you do with all your freetime then?"

Harry couldn't help laughing at their antics again, he couldn't seem to grow tired of watching them make light of this.

"He's got them both there," Remus murmured in agreement.

"That is actually impossible to anyone second year and older," James sighed. None of them had been on more than passing hello's to Hagrid themselves and they would have noticed a thing like this.

Lily was already frowning at this act, it was like Oliver was back again already.

James face puckered with disappointment again. It had obviously not been Harry, nor the twins or he was sure that would have been mentioned, who'd gotten the badge so that had left one of those three girls. Still, he hoped Angelina at least made Harry co-captain or something, he was really hoping his son would get this treat before he left school.

Sirius nodded enthusiastically even as he bounced in place for excitement upon hearing of Quidditch again, it had been gone far too long!

"That's standard though, isn't it? I don't see why she-"

"Shhh!" James hushed his wife as Harry kept going with definite fondness, that was only a mask, as his hand absently began fidgeting again that still no one noticed as he was holding a lofty book.

"You think Ron'll try out!" Sirius yelped with joy.

"He did get a new broom," Remus agreed.

"It's always a thrill to be playing with your friends," James smiled at the thought.

Harry felt the now familiar pain of a memory trying to tell him something for these comments, but he wasn't entirely sure as they seemed very mixed, so he had not a clue if Ron did or not.

Sirius still frowned sadly while Harry couldn't see. He wished he was sending his godson daily owls considering the years he'd gone without regular correspondence, if only as a reminder to his pup there was someone out there for him, it didn't always have to be 'new'. It's not like he was doing anything in that old place anyways but moping about, why couldn't he be sending a veritable books worth of letters to Harry full of anything and everythings?

James shook his head fondly as he still remembered Harry's first interaction with this and asking what a Knut was. His son had come a long ways.

"That's smart, I'll give her," Remus said grudgingly with still plenty of despair.

"I think I just died a little inside!" James yelped in disgust.

The only tiny speck of good Lily could find in that was, "well, least the worst of them should all be gotten out of the way early." When that did nothing to erase anyones disgust, even her own, she also tried, "and we won't have long to wait to hear more about that Umbridge. I'm still confounded of why she's there."

"I'd still be happier pretending none of them exist," Sirius groaned, he didn't need to sit in on that woman's class to even guess she could be any better than that other lot.

"Those ones do," Remus crinkled his nose in disgust.

"Does anyone else smell a regular three day weekend becoming a habit?" Sirius agreed conversationally.

"Why's it cheap?" Harry heard all four of them mutter suspiciously at once.

Harry didn't bother to hide his snicker as he continued.

"So how are they still alive?" Harry asked in genuine concern.

Lily told him of, "well there is a potion you can use to test what a new potion can perhaps do to the human body. It's very tricky, I'll be amazed if the twins learned to do it so early, but I imagine that's how they tested a lot of their products before they really put them to use on themselves looking for antidotes."**

"I'm not sure I'd come to the same conclusion," Remus muttered.

"Damn, it's extra worse cause they brought this up themselves," Sirius groaned.

"She really should have though," James agreed.

"Is it so terrible to ask for backup from him?" Lily asked honestly. She didn't think Hermione should be dragging Ron in either, but now she had, so Ron could at least nod along or something.

"It is if Ron doesn't agree," Remus frowned, "and he's never said anything for or against the twins and how they act, so Hermione shouldn't have been saying anything for Ron."

"She should know that answer better than anyone," James groaned in disgust.

"OWL's, and not the friendly bird kind," Sirius huffed.

"Oh how I wish they were still joking," Remus sighed as he rubbed his nose.

"I knew a Patricia Bishop who had the habit of studying under the chairs," Sirius chimed in. "I don't understand how that helped her study, but she was never without her favorite study spot."

"Gavin Crowley actually pissed himself right before our Transfiguration one," James snickered in remembrance.

"I thought that was because he'd come running up because he'd thought it was Herbology that hour instead," Remus reminded.

Sirius whistled innocently, no one had ever been sure why the boy could get something so confused, and they never had.

All four boys snorted with mirth while Lily shook her head in exasperation at the lot of them.

Remus opened his mouth, winced and shut it, but then realized Harry had seen anyways so managed to say, "our list was made once, extensively, as an end of year project for us. I hope the twins get to reminisce as well one last time." He finished by stammering just a bit, and Harry kept going a bit more loudly to try and erase the awkward moment for them even if he did truly appreciate how much they continued trying to tell him things about their past even when they involved that person.

"Seventh's still worse," Sirius forced out in an attempt to change the subject as well.

"My favorite year though," James stated with a dreamy look at his wife, at least momentarily erasing his own dark thoughts with her flaming red hair. Lily simply gave him an affectionate smile back.

"Well they don't really need them, running their own store," James chuckled.

"I don't understand why," Lily was frowning at the number. "They're clearly smart, why so few."

"Clearly it was because they only looked for what they needed, and didn't try to learn every stupid trivial thing we were supposed to be learning," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I envy them," Remus agreed.

"How would they know what I was thinking?" Sirius asked innocently, while Remus snorted and muttered, "doesn't take a genius to know something you were saying since your first year."

"They're not that stupid," James rolled his eyes, "they'd know better than to be saying that in front of Ron and Hermione."

"Who knows, maybe they thought Harry had told them," Sirius shrugged.

"That was true of their sixth year though," Remus sighed in disappointment. "I really would have hoped they were better on the spot liars."

"Yes, but even running their own business, it would still give them just a little bit better of an edge to have completed school," Lily reasoned what she was sure the twins were doing.

Harry gave a laugh, and honestly had no clue why.

"A travesty that still no one saw coming," Sirius said in disgust.

"That's brilliant," James chuckled.

"Though they seem to have found already that simply making your own needs supplies their demand for others," Sirius snickered.

"Uhoh," all four of them muttered while Harry started flushing in embarrassment.

"As subtle as ever my boy," James snorted.

"No, no," Sirius looked appraisingly at Harry, "try fainting, it's much more dramatic and puts you out of the conversation just as well."

Harry gave him a hard nudge and tried to ignore his still flushed face as he kept going.

"And what is to stop them just lying, or not answering at all?" Remus snorted at such a departure.

"I guess they were worried Hermione would see through it, so they decided to be vague instead," James was still laughing.

"Subtle as drowning someone in your own cauldron," James still hadn't stopped giggling excessively.

"What?" Harry tried to defend, "it had just come up!"

"Don't even try Harry, you won't do any better in here," Lily smiled as the boys kept their shoulders shaking at his attempts.

"That's not entirely accurate, though it is the standard," Lily sighed.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked at once as what he found was a real change of subject.

Lily happily explained over the boys grumbling he'd find this out for himself later, "if you hadn't taken the classes you can still take the exams at the end of the year, but you have to do solitary study of three years of material all on your own. That way you're not entirely deprived of the job you want, but Merlin do you have to work extra hard for it."

"Hence earlier complaints of when this career advice happens," Sirius sighed.

"I'm sure all boys think that at some time in their life," James said fondly, he was only just now growing shaky on his own idea of one.

"Just what does she think of as worthwhile?" Lily asked with honest curiosity.

"I'm guessing something to do with politics, her and her views on everything," James said with only a touch of sarcasm that time.

James nodded as if his point had just been made.

"Only because of the most boring teacher to have ever lived, and unlived!" Sirius groaned.

"A truly magical talent in itself I've yet seen replicated," Remus smiled.

"Everyone thinks that at least a dozen times during their school life," Sirius agreed.

"Who won?" James asked.

"Ron, nine out of ten games," Harry sighed. "He kept using names of chess strategies and really stumping me."

"You'd think she'd be used to it by now," Lily giggled.

Sirius gave a wild gasp at once, nearly screeching in Harry's ear, "is she mad!"

Harry managed to push him away in time to save his ear drum as the man kept going, "the only reason anyone survives that class is because of the few dedicated students who take the time to self study and share their own notes instead of listening to Binns at all! Hermione could be doing a real undermining of the schools system to be refusing to help this trend!"

"I'm sure some Ravenclaws would pin her down and steal them if it came to that," Remus reassured with backlit eyes.

Lily noticed, opened her mouth to ask, but Harry was trying to keep going while his hearing was still intact.

"Ah guilt trips, always a saving grace," James nodded.

"We did at first," Harry defended half heartedly.

"Though I'm positive that ended before you and Hermione even became friends," Sirius snorted, to which Harry didn't bother denying, more like it had ended in the first week.

"I think that's the nicest thing he's ever said to her," Remus chuckled.

"Compliments will get you everywhere," Sirius agreed wisely.

"I'm sure no one was arguing that point," James huffed.

Lily's face brightened as much as Harry's for this happening again, though for an entirely different reason as she adored hearing about Harry's first crush. The boys just couldn't seem to find a reason to stop their laughing this chapter, and weren't trying very hard.

"Agony is surely the wrong word," Remus tried to say with a straight face.

"More like spectacle," Sirius didn't even bother as he finished.

"There's the bright side!" James chipped in.

"Did she expected him to live in it?" Sirius asked while Harry managed to nudge him even harder, trying to read as fast as possible now.

"That's good, start casual," Sirius nodded, while Harry was now eyeing a pillow with deep contemplation as he forced himself to get through this.

Then they all winced as that hadn't explicitly crossed their mind, but at least Harry's face returned to normal color as the boys stopped smirking for a moment.

"There's Ron, always managing to break awkward silence," Remus approved around James already snorting again.

"Merlin, least my friends weren't this bad," James winced on Harry's part for Ron's poor choice there.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lily rolled her eyes, "your friends are just as bad as you were." Though she finished with pitying eyes on Harry, "but Ron really isn't helping there."

"Least someone there has an idea of what's going on," Remus giggled.

"I do believe that though," Sirius nodded, happily switching topics to Quidditch much to Harry's relief.

"Now there's an accomplishment," James laughed.

"I really don't see that one as being so bad," Remus said fairly.

"That's because we have comparisons of Prongs many worse times," Sirius reminded. "In most kids cases, that really wasn't the best."

"And what do you know about that?" Lily snorted, "you don't fall under anything resembling usual."

Sirius opened his mouth to retaliate while Harry cut them both off, he'd had enough practice.

"There's the bright side," Remus nodded eagerly.

"More than Lily ever did," James said with a tragic look at his wife.

"Trust me Potter, you would not have enjoyed the reasons at those times I was getting you alone," Lily tried to say in a threatening voice, but everyone turned away when it came out too flirtatious so they wouldn't have to see James' face.

"Hadn't even crossed my mind she'd think that," Sirius frowned at the idea. "You think too much."

"So you keep saying," Harry muttered, wishing his thoughts would be displayed a little less at least on this topic.

"At least your reasoning is sound," Remus said happily, "so I do agree, I think she's got a thing for you back."

"Yeah?" Harry asked with honest hope. The idea was certainly lingering in his mind, he just knew his crush on Cho had to go somewhere this year, but it really was only mild interest. For some reason as he gave a glance at his ring, nothing was sticking...

Remus didn't want to get his hopes up too much in case he was wrong as he gave a simple, "sure," as response, but Harry seemed happy enough as he kept going, even onto Snape's class.

"And that's really saying something," James snorted.

"I think that's their version of flirting," Sirius muttered as he eyed the couple who were now holding hands.

"I am convinced that's because they're all transfixed by the proportions of his nose regarding the rest of his face," Remus muttered under his breath, causing Sirius to snort.

"Ooh, so scary," James rolled his eyes, while Lily gained a fresh scowl for the new threats against these children.

"Nice to change things up a bit," Harry muttered with disgust.

"I have never wanted Harry to fail an exam more than I do right now," Sirius said at once.

Lily worked furiously, but couldn't even find it in herself to argue. James was the only one who felt disappointment for the statement, as he knew full well Harry would need that OWL to get into Auror training...two more years of Snape in one hand or his son's future in the other, it really was a nasty toss up.

"What I just heard is, I don't have to care about this class for a whole year because there's no way in Merlin I'll be passing it anyways," Remus muttered while Sirius started snickering again, the back of his mind already waiting to hear Slughorn calling him out any second for these flashbacks he could appreciate.

Lily smiled sadly to herself, thinking back to the end of their fourth year and how their fights had grown so bad over the years that by this point Potions was the only safe ground they had left. They'd discovered this one while doing a little pre studying for next year and had a fun conversations about how Muggleborns must have heard of this one at some point and how it wound up featuring in some of their fairy tales. Severus had made a few jokes about the ridiculousness of their so called cure for this...and now she just wanted to walk away for a moment and again feel the loss of that friend who was never coming back.

"She still does that eh?" James asked with mild disgust. "She does know by now there is no winning that man's approval, I know I tried all my life and-" he stopped as Lily released his hand to smack his head.

"A first for him I'm sure," Sirius rolled his eyes, wondering how much Snape loathed Hermione more than Harry for being so good when she was a Muggleborn.

"Ah the disgusting face of triumph I've had seared into my brain," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Butterbeer," Sirius launched at once as if he'd practiced by heart. "I'm thinking of starting my own brewery, and I'm naming it after you, Aarsehole Ale."***

"I would not drink that on a dare," James told him with a straight face.

"But it has some real potential for future carnage if bottled correctly," Remus concluded.

No one in here could claim surprise even if they were all sick of hearing about this.

"When it suits me," James clearly thought he was being smart.

Harry muttered something about his hatred of such a stupid detail ruining his whole potion, while Lily was muttering something very similar about his horrid teaching methods. As if he'd never blown a potion in his face the first time he'd tried something new.

Somewhere in the back of his mind Remus found it genuinely fascinating Snape had known exactly what was wrong with the potion in such complicated steps.

Lily's face was quickly flushing red with heated anger all over again at him utterly ruining Harry's attempt like this, what she wouldn't give to whack him upside the head with his own potion book for starters.

The boys were more unfazed by something they'd lived with through their whole childhood, even if they were itching to throw a curse or two at old Snivellus picking on one of theirs again.

"Yes, but neither of them are named Potter," James seethed with Harry.

"I am surprised I detect a hint of caring," Sirius spotted.

"I don't actually like failing, even his classes," Harry grumbled, though his ire was less so than it had been in the moment, as he was starting to get the feeling this was by far not the worst thing to happen to him today, and that was somehow not leaving a good feeling.

"I accept this as the irony Snape deserved with lesser pleasure," Remus sighed.

"Which is at its most low of that man," Lily was still muttering threats under her breath, this wasn't coming out much more audibly. "Treating you like this when you've done nothing to him, just because of how his father acted, they are two people dammit."

"Oh such sweet delusions I never bothered indulging while I had the chance," Sirius sighed.

"Her optimism really is adorable sometimes," Remus groaned.

"In my doubts that you'll ever get it, I still won't swallow it then," Sirius sniffed.

"It would still be nice if he shared it, show why he trusted him, not even in detail, just-" Remus cut himself off with a sigh that most likely they wouldn't be getting any of this.

That caught the others off guard as Lily said with a bit of rebuke, "Harry-"

"It was their third argument, that morning!" Harry defended, albeit more lackluster than when he'd snapped at his friends in person. "And just after Snape, I have limits."

"Sounded like you were used to it though," Remus sounded more puzzled than anything.

"You've had a bit of a short fuse lately with everyone," James agreed, "but mostly it's been coming off on them."

Harry had nothing to say to any of them, because he knew they were right. There was a terrible swirling feeling building in the back of his mind, and the moment he acknowledged how long it had been there it almost overwhelmed him right then. It took all of the self control he'd been having to learn so far not to let the memory sweep him whole, but something of all these bad feelings really was leading him to a very dark idea that involved this year... he was cut free of his thoughts by the words on the page thankfully grabbing his attention then, saving him from having to come up with a proper response.

"I can see that," Remus said fairly, "though no matter how unpractical now, I'd suggest in future just walking away and letting them have it out."

"I usually do," Harry sighed, before perking up slightly and adding on for fun, "one time I timed it and they hadn't noticed I'd left for almost the whole weekend...though now I'm thinking I should have been offended by that rather than laughing it off with Neville," he finished still with a goofy smile in place.

"How long after the Yule Ball was this?" Lily asked, only just suppressing her own laughter.

"The next weekend," he didn't seem to understand her implied tone as he shrugged and moved on.

"A daunting challenge for the man, it should keep him busy for five whole minutes," James chuckled.

"Harry, adding more torture to your life does not make anything easier," Lily groaned.

"Don't know what you're talking about Lily, this is usually a hoot," Sirius was already grinning in anticipation for the remarks to come.

"He didn't jump a few?" James demanded. "What do you lot do with your life?"

"Clearly nothing as spectacular as you," Harry chuckled.

"For twenty minutes, or seconds?" Sirius asked.

"Thought that's what friends were for?" Remus demanded.

"That's certainly what Ron and Hermione seem to use each other for," Lily seemed to agree.

"Well it's not as if he can say that to them," James sighed.

"Snape no, but I've got a few things Seamus could find, it's all the better they share the dorm, though that does limit some of the-"

Sirius was forced to cut off by Harry falling victim to Lily's begging eyes for him to keep going.

"Says something about your character you can feel both at once at least," Remus snorted lightly.

James was already making pointed yawning noises.

"I do so love it when the teachers talk about how stupid the exams are," Sirius chuckled.

"Not so much when she finishes on a high horse," Lily sniffed.

"I'm sure that has some deep meaning interpretations-" Remus began lightly.

"About scissors out to kill the world and his grandmother the supreme ruler of hats, yeah, I can see that happening any day now," James agreed.

Causing four collective snorts of laughter, James recovering from his laugh at once to demand, "just what the bloody hell is in that book of yours for desserts to be coming after you?"

"Oh, because scissors and grandmothers is so much better," Harry reminded.

"That's as easy as the last assignment I've heard," Remus chuckled. "In fact all I've heard from this class is make stuff up."

"I don't exactly have a wide imagination," Harry sighed, "I run out very fast and then get frustrated, while I know she must know I reuse a few things about dieng. Probably why I've never gone far in that class."

"Yes, that's why, not because she wouldn't bother putting an interest in someone she has slated to die," Sirius cackled.

"Ah the never ending complaint of homework," Remus nodded in agreement.

"If Moony wasn't above giving homework than no one is," James sniffed.

Remus gave him a wounded look as he demanded, "are you saying if she dosen't, I'll be replaced?"

"I'd fight for you," Sirius gave him a mock pat on the shoulder, "I'll take your lame essays over that pink cardigan any day."

All three boys continued laughing at Harry's constant description of that, it really didn't grow old with how much sarcasm Harry infused into saying this.

Harry was starting to fidget uneasily though. He'd just had all of his least favorite classes back to back, and still this one felt the most foreboding of all.

Sirius was crinkling his nose in disgust at once as he demanded, "I really want to know which primary school sucked the life out of her! That's degrading to the first years, let alone this nonsense!"

Lily had some instinct to scold about proper manners, but stopped herself because Harry was really starting to worry her. He sounded more hostile to this woman he'd yet to have a conversation with than he had in all his times speaking of Snape.

"Not one of you got creative with that?" James pouted at such poor showmanship.

"Probably got lost on where to begin," Remus offered. "Such as, good morning Um, oh what was it again? Or even hem, hem, sorry had to clear my throat before I could get that out, there seems to be a frog stuck in there, or how about-"

"Remus!" Lily finally cut in loud enough over the laughing boys, at least trying to hid her own smile while he batted his eyes innocently.

"True, but that follows in most classes," Sirius sighed.

Harry stopped, mouthed the words again, and felt his bad feelings ratcheting up all over again.

Everyone else looked just as properly disgruntled for that statement, Remus muttering, "really, the teaching there has been inconsistent, but please tell me she's not going to be doing this for all students, especially the NEWT ones."

Harry could find nothing in him to argue saying otherwise.

"I think I'd already take Lockhart over this," James huffed.

"Speak for yourself," Remus grumbled. He had a predisposition to dislike her as well thanks to Harry, but nothing could be worse than that moron, right?

Lily's face was puckering with concern as she asked, "really, not that any of that is strictly a bad thing to be teaching them, but that was it?"

"Hopefully she'll adjust those in the fortnight, it shouldn't even take them that long to drag through something so tedious," James offered.

"Argh," Sirius snarled outright this time. "She's really going to insist upon that for every question. Even we'll start to run out of alterations for that stupidity."

"Best to start storing them up and only dishing them out when they're really needed," Remus agreed.

"I digress," James winced in horror, "even Lockhart had the decency to read them himself and keep up the stupid show, I'm sure that made it go by faster than self inflicting this dribble."

That gave everyone in here a nice jolt of surprise. They'd yet to recall a moment where Hermione had directly disobeyed a teacher like this. Harry certainly found his interest spiraling back up even if it didn't erase his bad feelings for how this was going to end.

"Well that part's not so surprising, I wouldn't even be surprised if she's read it already like all her others," Remus rolled his eyes.

"She must have some limit," James balked. "Even something so dull as that must stop her."

"That is really saying something, one silence is beating out another," Sirius chuckled.

"Well if that isn't a bit pompous," Lily shook her head at that.

They all shifted uncomfortably in their seat. They'd noticed this of course, but had been hoping it just hadn't come up quite yet...

"Ah, practice," Remus pointed out in a clearly 'duh' tone.

"Can we do some on her," Sirius was already muttering. Not a good sign if he was already initiating threats on this woman Lily noted, but she also just couldn't bring herself to rebuke him either, she'd been in this class for just a few minutes and was already grating on their nerves.

Harry gave an awkward laugh for remembering a few instances of being attacked at places he never would have thought possible.

All five of them gave a raised brow for that. At some point none of them would even be surprised if Hermione decided to teach the class, it would make more sense than half the choices they'd heard of so far.

"I thought it said you already had your hand raised," James reminded, his face somewhere between wanting to mock this situation and already realizing this was getting bad, fast.

"I put it down when I started talking," Harry muttered.

"You're supposed to be trained inside so you expect it outside," Remus genuinely looked confused at trying to explain this, he'd never thought he'd have to, to a teacher of this subject!

"Is she actually arguing the point, saying she won't!" Lily demanded.

"I, she can't be that dense," James tried to deny, but at the bleak look on Harry's face saying his mother was right on the money, they all fell into a confounded silence as it really hit them just what Harry had been stuck with this year. Even their plethora of inept teachers sprinkled in with the few good ones had never gotten this bad!

Remus couldn't even pretend to block out the sound of the, underserved in his opinion, protest around him since Harry was so vocally agreeing. He just wished they wouldn't as it wouldn't do any good. Thankfully as the woman wasn't present and all they could do was shout angrily about this, it didn't last too long, but there was no longer any doubt in anyone's mind. This woman had surpassed Lockhart already as worst teacher, and was right up there with insane Jr. as far as wanting to be kept around.

Remus had lost a couple of shades in fear of realizing he was so well known to the Ministry, never something a werewolf should be encouraged to do, but even such a comment as this managed to make him feel just slightly better. The kids had still thought he'd been better than Moody?

"Well, I mean, at some point they're not wrong," Harry muttered.

"And it happened to save a very important life, so this transgression was overlooked," James huffed, not particularly fond of defending the madman who'd tried to do his son in, or one of them at least, but that still felt better than agreeing with anything this woman had said.

Sirius literally applauded his logic, and no one could think of a good reason to stop him for a moment.

"Oh yes, because after school you're just supposed to be a mindless drone to the Ministry apparently," James crinkled his nose in disgust.

"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Lily yipped. "In whose right mind do you expect anyone to learn without hands on practice at some level?"

"Clearly this one is as off the wagon as Jr., but in a completely different way," Sirius felt repulsed at the idea as he rounded on Harry, "just how do you manage to get two insane people back to back?"

Harry was muttering something about how it didn't quite end any time soon, but chose not to really reply.

"So they're not supposed to be prepared at all?!" James snarled at the same time Harry had kept going.

Lily gave a soft breath of laughter like the others for the comparison as the two smiled at each other, but it didn't quite erase how empty it always made her feel to see her boy already having to conform to any kind of war like mind. No, he shouldn't have to be prepared for what was out there, because she kept hoping there wouldn't be anything out there. No matter how naive, she'd always wish for that.

All four of them shivered, though not for the same reason as Harry's classmates had just done. The idea of Voldemort inside their school, actually attacking their own classmates at the time had filled them with dread in their final year. Now Harry was having to experience the idea, two years earlier...

"I'm confident it's more to do with her lack of a brain than any actual imbedded fear like the rest," Remus muttered.

"I don't think arguing technicalities will help you right now," Lily shook her head softly even as she was watching the book intently, on tenterhooks to throw something at this woman for her son even if he was doing a superb job defending himself.

Harry did not want to look back up at them as he said this with just as much force as he had to Umbridge. He did not want to again see the mingled fear and pride on them for this having been true. It helped to keep his eyes focused on the pages as he truly encountered his first person who was flat out calling him a liar, that wasn't just some other student. This was someone who worked for the Ministry, the government he should have been relying on to help him get people to understand this, not some woman who continued addressing him as if a naughty child about the worst experience of his life.

No one could ignore it this time, Harry's right hand shook so hard the book nearly fell from his grip, the ghost of a burning sensation crossing those faded white words more intensely than ever before. Harry steadied himself though, and just looked on in confusion for a moment before forcing himself to ignore the moment. Whatever that odd marking of his was, it was clearly fixing to be revealed, but he just couldn't imagine in what conjuncture to this any more than the others.

"Because that makes it all better," Sirius' blistering tone was coming out more dangerous the more sugary Umbridge's tone had gone. Harry was already sure he would love to have put them in a quiet room together at some point, though it wouldn't have remained quiet long.

Remus drew the simple letter o out in honest anticipation to see how far Harry was going to go with this woman.

"I would have taken anything over 'defensive of Umbridge,' so," Lily's nodd came out in a jerky movement of some kind of agreement to this.

James flinched at the intensity of Harry's tone, even as he sat forward in his seat, an ugly look set in place to hear the government disgrace away this death.

Harry's voice snapped colder than any cracking whip as he forced himself to read out that lie. Though it truly was of some comfort to him he could feel the anger bleeding from those around him, the support and backup he could feel that hadn't been lacking from his friends per say, but they'd been sitting in more stunned silence than anything.

"I care," James muttered as his knee started bouncing with unease. Every gesture this woman had made so far just screamed he was not going to like what was coming next. Sometimes a prank wasn't enough to get his point across, and he could already feel this woman deserved far worse for whatever she was going to subject his son to.

That stopped Harry cold in surprise. He glanced up but saw they understood this no more than he had. What exactly did this woman think McGonagall was going to do about this?

Still, Lily managed to just find one bright spot in this, as finally Harry was getting away from her class even for a moment.

"What I would pay them to start making it a trend and rally all the students to get themselves kicked out of her class," Sirius sighed.

"I suppose there's a time and place for everything," Remus winced at that poltergeist.

"I find this an excellent use of our previous point," James grinned had turned a bit vicious. "We most certainly do need to learn to protect ourselves inside this castle. Why don't we have Peeves step inside the class for a moment to demonstrate."

"It certainly couldn't do too much harm to watch that Umbridge woman see the vitality of defensive magic being used practically," Sirius' tone held just one soft edge of a growl, while everyone was envisioning who would win in this fight against Umbridge and Peeves, and greatly enjoying the results right now.

"Should I feel honored I've gotten more than one song from him?" Harry grumbled.

"If I say yes, will it cheer you up at all?" Sirius asked.

"No," Harry said flatly.

"Oh, well then," Sirius rolled his eyes as he tried to act affronted, but mostly they were all sad Harry wasn't even playing along anymore. That's what being in one class with that woman had already done to him, they were all starting to become terrified of future results.

"All the flashbacks must be bombarding her at once," James said a little wistfully, at least he couldn't claim he'd ever been kicked out of class for getting into an argument with a teacher like that, it had always been intentional.

Sirius did perk up though as he pointed out, "though major credit to Harry, I don't think any of us got this accomplishment on our first day with someone new. That earns you major credit pup."

Harry still wasn't reacting, his mind too pestered on the lies that woman insisted upon, he couldn't think of anything past that for now.

"It means been given the golden ticket to leave class and come see the higher power, I'm sure you're familiar with it," Remus snarled under his breath.

"Well don't take this out on here," James couldn't help the instant scolding that popped out of him, but he'd never hear of someone being disrespectful to his favorite teacher and react otherwise.

Harry's tone was finally edging out of hostile now as he looked around at James in surprise for the tone, before he quickly nodded with chagrin at his own actions, knowing he'd do the same thing to someone else he respected so much.

Causing all the boys cackles to sooth back, at least they knew Harry meant it. They'd just had one too many instances of wannabe Death Eaters making some snide comment to their head of house for the reaction not to be instinct by now.

Remus began chuckling as he saw a shining moment of James in Harry right there. Absolutely no shame or regret in those actions.

Causing all of five of them to do a double take in surprise before titterings of laughter broke out for such a comment being inserted. She really could always keep them on their toes.

"Still one of my favorite moments to date," James nodded with unease as he tried to guess where she could be going with this. "Surely she's not going to creating something else just for Harry to join as a reward."

"I will come up to the school and hug her in thanks if so," Sirius snickered.

"I'm sure she's had plenty of practice, all the times she's seen my face like this," Sirius nodded wisely, this one catching them so off guard James and Remus actually laughed for a second before remembering to smack him for that.

"That seems to get through to you best," Lily smirked.

"Keeps things serious between us," Harry said, giving an obvious look to his godfather as a clear way of apologizing for being snappy with him before as well.

Sirius took the opportunity in stride as he instantly replied, "I'll always keep things between us pup!"

"But, Quidditch!" James instantly protested as he recalled Angelina's exact words about Friday.

Lily smacked him upside the head as she snapped, "priorities James."

"Did she have to set it for then," he continued quietly.

"Oh no, she couldn't," Remus frowned. "Dumbledore doesn't even interfere in those things, it's too undermining to the teachers."

"In this case, I think he really should make an exception," Sirius had his nose crinkled in disgust of what this woman was doing already.

"You were about Norbert too and still took that detention without such a fuss," Sirius tried to poke fun.

"This is far different and you know it," Harry sighed, clearly still not in a good enough mood to be poking back.

"No to the first, but the second could use some work," James agreed.

"Learn to pick your battles mate," Remus disagreed, "I'm agreeing with all of that."

"Never quite seemed to catch that lesson," James shrugged without remorse.

"Is that supposed to be a peace offering?" Harry asked, wondering at the insistence of these things.

"Just her way of trying to keep things polite," Sirius shrugged.

"I wouldn't have thought anyone had until Hermione proved me otherwise," Remus rolled his eyes at the question.

"That really is hurtful," Harry pouted down at the final page. "As if I couldn't come to that conclusion on my own after that class!"

"Well, she's not wrong," Remus laughed as he held his hand out for the book.

Harry hesitated in giving it to him, that nasty tingling feeling still hadn't left the back of his hand where the faint white scars were, and he was really starting to dread learning the meaning of those.

HPHPHPHPHP

Okay, evil laughter and sarcasm aside, hope you all enjoyed this one, even though it's the next one I know you've all been begging for since the start of this book! Hope you can keep yourselves together tell then, thanks as always for the constant love and support in the meantime!

*I know I pointed this out in the last book, but the inconsistency still stands so I'm going to keep doing it. September 2nd 1995 was a Saturday, not a Monday.

** Idea offered to me by Narutofan8762, thanks!

***Suggested insert by a new friend of mine, Alice October, thanks for the ever loving sarcasm, which you know is my favorite.


	13. DETENTION WITH DOLORES

This book in particular really was one where I wanted to add in Ron and Hermione for some of their commentary on things, but I couldn't justify it for the whole series so they got left out, like Peter for the second book before. I don't regret it as I ultimately made this decision not to overcrowd, but man were there a few moments in this chapter I could have had some fun with.

To Katie: Don't apologize, I always do respect differences of opinion, and we happen to be of one now. I don't think age should define what you're told, but how you handle a situation. I've met fifteen year olds far more mature in life than eighteen year olds, and I most certainly would have told that fifteen year old something important about their life rather than the one of age. Harry is most definitely mature enough to handle the information being withheld from him, and I really believe Sirius thinks that more than anything, not that he is James. Do I see sometimes that Sirius may be wishing for both, James and Harry at once, yes, but that wasn't the point of that argument. Thank you kindly for the review, I'm glad you're enjoying!

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Lily watched Remus flip to the next chapter with a sense of foreboding. She couldn't help but notice a recurring pattern that every thirteenth chapter of these books seemed to be an extra stab of worse for her son. She supposed that mirror had been a bit of good and bad, but that diary and the time they'd all watched Sirius truly act like a madman, then of course the start to that wretched Tournament. She already could feel a burning hatred for Umbridge, what worse thing could happen this time?

"Now that's saying something," James murmured as he shifted uneasily in his seat, he wasn't looking forward to Harry's reaction to this.

Sirius huffed and muttered a bit about people who weren't them. He'd always loved attention, but this was ridiculous on the student's part.

"Who says they did though?" Remus was frowning with sympathy. "Fudge is the perfect example of that, he was there when this was first being told and he flat out refused to hear this was true. The rest of the student body could have honestly been thinking the same thing as him, and then the Prophet just went and confirmed it."

Harry's face was flushing with anger as he fought so hard not to argue back, having to keep the very firm thought they were on his side and not to go at them like he had been towards Ron and Hermione. It was getting harder by the moment as he remembered the screams, what they all saw as he reappeared with Cedric's body! How could they just write that off! When Harry didn't respond, Remus didn't push him for an answer as he kept going.

"A treasured friend, walking away from dessert," James mumbled.

Lily was fidgeting in place for a multitude of reasons. Wanting to scold Harry again for talking to his friends that way, wanting to back him up because clearly the majority of that school needed their heads checked in thinking anything else had happened considering the evidence. Yet she could do neither of those things, and so was left to sit and squirm some more, ratcheting her frustrations further every moment.

The Marauders exchanged an anxious look, but not one of them could come up with a comment to make Harry smile away this problem. They'd thought things would be getting better, at least a little more light now that he was back at school, but Harry didn't have the misadventures they made sure to get themselves up to, so it was getting rather hard to play off these very real problems of his.

Sirius at least had seven years worth of material to talk about this all he wanted. "You know, I really pity those who had a cat allergy. Pomfrey kept them alive and everything, but there were at least a dozen of them in the common room alone at one time. Why are any pets besides owls allowed?"

"I always thought they were a bit of home comfort," Lily shrugged, though she'd never been allowed one until James got Hickory, her doormate had a cat that while wily, Lily adored, and in Mary's first few homesick week like all first years went through, seemed to be some comfort.

Sirius could have happily protested other aspects of this and kept going for hours, but then he realized the whole reason he was doing this was being ignored. Harry was gazing at nothing restlessly, rotationally rubbing at the back of his hand and flattening his hair. Clearly something was fixing to happen that was winding him up, even more worrying than his weighing thoughts about Hagrid or the rest of the start to his school year, so a small miracle occurred in that he silenced himself and let Remus keep going.

Harry wasn't comforted he felt the same in here, though it was hardly past lunch. Having eaten a very early meal before meant he shouldn't expect a break for some time, though he knew he could get one if he asked. It was very tempting, but he knew it was really because he just didn't want to hear of something coming, so it's not as if he could delay that forever.

"I'm confident your specific year was not on his mind when she was taken on," Remus chuckled.

"Yeah Harry, not everything's about you," James agreed.

"You know, in the book about your life," Lily rolled her eyes at the pair of them.

When Sirius realized Remus wasn't going to react to that, Sirius decided to do it for him by lifting Remus' hand and pressing it to his heart as he tried to mimic his voice, "that hurt! Now I'm going to crawl away with a broken heart and sob in the corner-"

"Stop that you idiot," Remus finally tugged his arm free by whacking his hand with the book in his other.

Sirius rubbed at the spot, it was a big book, but he'd finally gotten a grin out of Harry for his antics so it had been worth it.

"Sadly, we can't blame this mess on him anymore than we could Lockhart," Remus groaned. "His last two appointees were clearly personal favors, and he's already run out of those with some stupendous consequences. I wish I was honestly more surprised the Ministry finally stepped in and tried to offer 'help' with this, and since he clearly couldn't' find anyone else to do the job," he trailed off with a sad sigh this had to fall on Harry.

"I'm glad one of you caught that," James crinkled his nose in disgust.

"You didn't mention it," Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"Thought it went without saying in here how much we'd hate that," James shrugged.

"Merlin, you must be sick of them to rather be doing homework than listen to a classic," Sirius frowned in sympathy for Harry.

"I really was feeling exhausted after just the one day," Harry sighed, still rubbing in frustration at his forehead, his scar they all noticed. It left them all as uneasy as he was clearly feeling, as any rubbing at this from before never meant anything good.

"Suppose it is best to get the worst out of the way first," Sirius groaned.

"I'm sure she was just stunned at such a thing happening," James snickered.

"Does he really never bother to crack open his own text first?" Remus sounded honestly amused.

"Why would he bother when he has a talking one right next to him most times," Harry chuckled.

"Merlin, that would actually terrify the piss out of teachers," Lily yipped in concern, she knew she'd be freaking out if she hadn't heard the reason for this.

"I'm sure it must come with some sort of warning label, be sure to tell your friends what you're fixing to do so they can give some loaded excuse and escort you out for the teacher." Sirius shrugged.

"Something harmless, like oh he skipped breakfast," James agreed, his eyes alight with fascination at these twins yet again.

"Out of the pair, I consider Hermione more intimidating anyways," Sirius snickered. "Best let her get her word in, Ron does much better keeping an eye on things."

Remus snorted hard at the two just carrying on without a single care of her. That was a bit dumb on their part, even without all they knew about Hermione, you'd think the twins would find her some form of a threat.

"I really don't find that the point right now," Lily shook her head.

"Why's that?" Sirius did look confused at this choice. "Should have prepared them, better results when they ask how soon they felt the effects coming on."

"I can see the benefit," Remus said grudgingly, "if they expected it, then they would have been waiting for the feeling, and that could have preemptively made the feeling occur."

"They're probably doing both scenarios with different groups," James concluded.

"Well yes, that is the bright side," James chuckled.

The back of Harry's hand tingled worse than ever, and he began rubbing at that instead of his scar for once in remembered pain as he gazed down at the white mark. It was extremely faded, clearly years old and the words no longer legible, but he could feel now more than ever he was about to get an answer to this scar, and he knew he wasn't going to like it.

"Hermione really is making a spectacle of herself," Sirius shook his head, none of them noticing Harry's moment.

Harry was thankfully distracted from his moment anyways by that vivid mental image while those around him snickered as they visualized it.

The scandalized looks on everyone normally would have been enough to make someone laugh, but that really had been too far on Hermione's part. First trying to pin the brothers against each other last year, now this, she truly was interfering in far too much outside of her friend's brother's lives with that statement. The Marauders knew they would have lost their temper in that moment had it been them. Privacy was of the utmost importance to them considering what they got up to in school, and if Regulus had ever tried a thing like that against them, even if it would have no effect, it would not have gone over well.

Harry gave a hard laugh for the dramatics he wished the others would join in on. Hermione was still his friend even if she was being too heavy handed right then, and those angry faces all for her really were making him uncomfortable.

"Course it is," James' scowl had not lessened one little bit.

"Dad," Harry couldn't help but snap at him for that.

"She should know better than anyone what it is to keep to themselves," James was not backing down. "They're not hurt and this really doesn't have anything to do with her."

"She's not here to defend herself," Harry wasn't letting go either, "and I'm sure if she was she'd be saying it was her job as Prefect to keep an eye on them, and not let them go too far."

"They haven't even gotten close," Lily rolled her eyes as she jumped in, "and James quit having a go at Hermione because of everything she does."

Her glaring at the two managed to put a stop to them for now even if they both did look wrinkled.

"I'm sure that was the best position available at the time," Remus muttered.

"Please don't tell me she's going at him next," James huffed for Lily alone, "I wouldn't ask Sirius to back me up if I was having a go at you."

"It's not entirely the same," Lily sighed in his ear, "her heart's in the right place, she's just looking out for those little kids."

"The twins aren't going to hurt them," he insisted, "and Hermione's nosing into people's business."

"She always has though, and you thought it was plenty of fun against Rita last time," Lily softly rebuked. "You can't pick and chose when it's fun to watch her do this."

"Different situation," he began to hiss back, but she raised a brow which made him stop and realize he was saying exactly what she just had. He crossed his arms and finished with a huff, while Remus had been ignoring their not very subtle whispered argument.

"Wow, good to know Ron's found a way to distract Hermione from homework, could come in handy for the future," Sirius chuckled on Ron's behalf.

"I'm already at that level," Remus huffed.

There was a long, heavy moment of silence before Sirius burst out laughing. Remus joined in, but there was a hard edge as he kept staring down at this new act of hers.

"This is another level of conceited," James didn't look remotely amused at the idea. "Just where did she get the idea that she can set other people's creatures free? That's like if someone took Crookshanks from her and tried to set it loose in the wild."

"You did just equate house-elves to animals," Lily said grudgingly, very clearly trying not to sound accusing, but failing a bit. "Honestly, would it be so bad if they worked for these families voluntarily rather than slavery. If the house-elves wanted to come back then of course Dumbledore would let them, but now they'd be there because they clearly wanted to be, that could teach Hermione a very important lesson."

"You lot are missing the point," Sirius brushed his hair out of his face impatiently as his mirth filled eyes looked on at all of them not getting the joke. "This is all pointless on her part, because it won't work! Even when they do pick those up, they'll throw them in the bin, or the laundry, or lost and found! Hermione's not their master, she can't release them. This girl has no clue what she's doing."

"She's clearly going after Harry's idea and tricking them into freedom," Remus agreed, "but she seems to have missed the important detail of Malfoy having been the one to do so for Dobby."

"Well now I'm just curious if Harry points this out," James released a grudging laugh, "because he clearly hadn't thought of this," seeing the contemplative look on his face as he realized this at the same time as them.

James still couldn't erase a scowl for her arrogance coming through yet again. Exactly how much did Hermione know of these creatures? They hadn't heard much of her looking into this past her disgust of them not being mentioned in history books, and Harry clearly didn't know as he wasn't keeping good tabs on Hermione's adventures of this.

Sirius was still snickering as he knew it made no difference either way, while at least James looked appeased with Ron's attempts.

"They invented this thing, it's called a textbook," Lily said conversationally. "Has he never bothered to crack it open before now?"

"Never had to, Hermione's really always been around when we do our homework, and she helps a lot more than she admits," Harry shrugged.

"How do you lot survive when you weren't speaking in third year, or even when she wasn't around at the end of your second?" Sirius couldn't help but laugh at Harry's sheepish face.

"A lot of her notes," he muttered, "she wrote ahead a lot, and we filched them from her when she left them out a lot at night."

"Well at least that's some form of study, even if it is from her rather than the source she got it from," Remus snorted.

"Probably a good thing," Lily sighed, "as I doubt he was going to be saying anything too pleasent less than a day later."

None of the boys entirely agreed, a good fight actually could have done some good in relieving Harry's stress, as they'd found in their youth, though usually that was geared more towards their pranks than an argument.

"It's nice to have a someone pointing out the bright side on their end as well," Remus smiled.

James was still shaking his head in disbelief at Hermione's naivety showing at every aspect of this situation.

Harry was the only one who managed to resist a snort of laughter with great restraint.

"I'm sure that was his goal honestly," Sirius snickered.

"All of the teachers will," Lily sighed, "as if we couldn't remember without them adding to the stress of it all."

"That's implying he has any thoughts though," James said loudly before his friend could get halfway through a joke.

"Prongs!" Sirius spluttered protest at once.

"Not as fun when someone else does it, eh?" James smirked with utter pleasure.

"Isn't this what started the war, and at some point we just let him win," Remus groaned.

"I have far more material, I got eleven years of making this shit up before you lot could even get a chance getting started," Sirius huffed, a challenging look still gleaming in his eyes promising payback to his best friend.

"You are depressing me with all of these flashbacks I'm getting," Remus groaned.

"When did my middle name change to application?" Sirius demanded practically before Remus had finished the word with a hard look at James.

James was now resisting the urge to get up and strangle him.

"Aww," Lily uttered sadly, wishing she could pass the poor boy along her notes or something. This wasn't her best class either, but at least she'd held confidence while trying.

They all smiled widely for that, often times just instilling confidence in someone could help them more with their work, and they hoped that helped Neville. In that moment, Harry honestly would have bet on it.

"I think Ron needs to make a chart to help him maintain when he should be insulting Hermione, and be sure to keep homework help times in big red letters to avoid that," Remus was trying hard not to laugh as he said.

"That is far too much work, he may as well just do the homework by that point," James rolled his eyes.

"It's only the second day," Lily said with worry. "Honestly Harry, you act as if school's new to you, I'm sure you'll fall back into your routine soon."

"It just felt, off this year," he struggled to explain even as he already felt a sharp paining returning for even trying to speak about something he had no clue should bother him.

It wasn't hard to realize that something was bothering him this year in particular, even more than last if that was possible, and it was frustrating none of them could think how to help because they weren't even sure of what the problem was yet.

"Knew you had to inherit some of my brains," Lily poked fun at her husband's expense.

"I'll have you know I got an O in my sarcasm OWL dear," James batted his eyes at her.

"Who set it, Remus or Sirius?" Harry couldn't help but snip.

All three denied answering.

"Sounds like bowtruckles," Remus couldn't seem to stop himself answering, while Sirius rolled his eyes and just thanked Merlin he wasn't inserting other trivia in between already.

"My dad once had a chap around who had one of those as a pet, road around on his shoulder," Remus smiled in remembrance.

"So your dad knew the same kind of strange people you do," Sirius surmised, as Remus sometimes enjoyed inviting people over who could have a friendly discussion about magical creatures, of course none ever stayed long.

"That about covered it," James snickered.

"Nothing yet to add Moony?" Sirius was clearly challenging, so knowing whether Remus answered or not he'd get mocked for doing so, Remus looked him in the eye and said, "a group of bowtruckles is called a branch."

Sirius just rolled his eyes, but he couldn't pretend he was surprised.

James had only vaguely heard of these things from Remus, so though he'd heard this fun fact, he still rubbed at the corner of his eye protectively.

"Why would she know?" Remus shook his head sadly for Harry. "She's only the substitute, you should take that up with Dumbledore."

"Well as I'm still rather annoyed at him for ignoring me all summer, better to start with her," Harry sighed.

"I see she still fails to see Harry as Hagrid's friend instead of a nosy kid," James huffed.

"Why wait for that?" Sirius' teeth were already bared for a fight.

All of them fidgeted in unease for that. It wasn't a good thing at all that just by this little comment, they all understood the Death Eaters were aware of Hagrid's involvement, but that didn't stop Remus frowning in confusion, "I don't understand why he knows about this? Surely his father doesn't let him in on Death Eater meetings?"

"Who knows?" James shrugged, "a lot of the kids we knew in school who turned into that lot sure seemed to know a lot more than they should have, and I'll bet you anything that's because of what their parents told them and what they strung together. Wouldn't surprise me Malfoy's in the same boat."

Lily didn't comment, as she was chewing hard on her lip in concern for what could be happening to Hagrid, and why they Death Eaters would know anything about what was going on with him, unless they'd had a go at him. Surely Hagrid was strong enough to resist such a thing, right?

"Dumbledore would know if something happened to Hagrid," Remus said with as much confidence as he could. "Besides, he most likely had Maxime go with him if you remember, and you have to be a fully trained wizard to be a Headmistress, so there's just no way they could subdue both Hagrid and her and the Order wouldn't know about it."

"Yeah, Malfoy's just full of it as always, Hagrid'll be back at Hogwarts before you know it," James said with absolute conviction.

Harry still felt the panic flaring in him, yet the moment his dad mentioned Hagrid back at Hogwarts Harry did feel a moment of peace. He was sure in that moment he would see Hagrid again, so he did take a deep breath and settled back down.

Remus kept reading on very loudly before Sirius could make that stupid joke as well.

"You don't know exactly what's going on," Sirius was clearly still sore about that.

"I like to think that miserable old Umbridge woman would be first out the door," Lily said in disgust. "At least Trelawney pretends to teach, that woman can't even accomplish that."

"It's breaking my heart to realize Snape will be of more use this year than that toad," James agreed in disgust.

Harry rubbed the back of his right hand in the remembered pain, inspecting the wound critically, but that had been no where near deep enough to leave those scars, nor at all explained his unsettled feeling about them.

Remus was tisking sadly Harry had nearly hurt that creature due to his not paying attention, but couldn't bring himself to say anything as he knew Harry hadn't meant any real harm.

"That's enough to cause anyone a moment of detention," Lily said grimly, she couldn't stand watching someone suffer while being laughed at.

"I thought you were supposed to turn that in at the beginning of class," Remus said in confusion.

"She didn't ask anyone to turn them in, suppose she forgot," Harry shrugged, the whole class had walked away and she hadn't stopped them anyways.

"As opposed to?" Sirius burst out.

"When is the last time I've ever heard her laugh at a joke," James huffed even while he was smiling a bit himself at his sons accurate joke.

"Honestly Harry, I wish you wouldn't do that," Lily groaned in dismay. "She's a right to her opinion if she does think that woman's a better teacher."

"Well she could at least pretend like she'd be offended like the rest of us," Harry wasn't letting go. "He's hardly had as much of a chance, she could cut him some slack and show some concern for things other than house-elves."

"She most certainly does when it counts," Lily said firmly, causing Harry to wince and back down for now.

"As am I when I enjoy a class, it's just unnatural," Sirius tried to lighten the mood, but was ignored.

"Well this should be interesting," Remus said honestly, he still hadn't quite formed an opinion of her, but he felt like he was fixing to with that kind of introduction.

"Well okay then," James blinked spastically at such an abrupt change of topic, before smiling widely, "I officially like her."

"She can read all the wonky magazines she likes so long as her head stays on straight," Sirius agreed with a happy smile.

Even as Lily and Remus agreed they couldn't help an eyeroll for the two having to phrase it like that.

"Just what is so funny about that?" Lily rolled her eyes in annoyance at such a trivial thing to her.

"I'm sure it's a combination of both actually," Harry said indulgently, wishing he'd done more to thank Luna at the time for the support he'd been wanting.

"Err," Siris said in confusion, looking to Moony for some kind of answer on that, but he just gave the same unknown shrug back.

James began scratching at his ear as he stated, "okay, now I'm confused, who's wrong there?"

"I'd guess, err," Sirius looked torn, thinking Hermione would normally be the one to know such a thing, but Luna had seemed to speak with certainty of the exact opposite.

"Honestly what does it matter," Harry still had that smile in place, "she can believe in Father Christmas and not think Hippogriffs are real for all I care."

No one could argue with that, it was too nice to hear of someone having no relation to Harry sticking up for him, it spoke of just how equal the grounds of Hogwarts could be on this subject, hopefully.

"You got her on that one Harry," James snickered.

"How so?" Sirius snipped. "I don't see anyone else lining up to say the same for Harry outright like that, I admire the girl for it."

"Why do I get the feeling that's not actually what Ginny had said," Remus frowned.

"I sincerely doubt her belief in, ah, certain creatures equates to outright lying about seeing something that is real," Remus defended.

"Well this should be interesting," James muttered, his lip already trying to curl up in disdain for the last time he really remembered this boys opinion and it putting Harry so low.

"Well I guess I'll take that," Sirius was trying hard to fight back a smile for this display, but at least this little twit he remembered was on the right person's side this time.

"You really took that one personally didn't you?" Lily giggled. "What if Cho started wearing an onion for a necklace?"

"I'll get back to you on that one," Harry laughed easily, this really had been just what he needed to calm his mind it seemed.

"Guess it's better than outright hostile," Remus sympathized.

"You'd really think at some point the teachers compared notes to realize, not all of them needed to do that!" James groaned.

"I did that most night anyways," Sirius agreed. "Far too much effort to track all the way up there just to come right back down for some grub, the bag slips under the bench easy enough."

The ease Harry had felt for just that small moment was already vanishing at the mention of this all over again, he was already resisting the temptation to snap the book shut on Remus' fingers and hide it from sight from something. He hadn't felt this anxious since the his fight with his dad at the Dursley mentionings, what on earth was fixing to happen to him?

"I can imagine it," James winced but kept that mutter to himself as he figured Harry wouldn't much appreciate it.

"It was hardly put into his planner on purpose," Sirius began defending at once.

"It's not as if he's going on a date instead," James defended that one. "No one plans for this nonsense!"

"Not a teacher on earth would let you get away with that," Remus stated at once, gazing at the book like Angelina had lost her mind. "I can imagine even McGonagall scolding you for suggesting otherwise no matter her love for her team."

"The pathetic part is, that may actually work on this woman," Lily said in disgust.

That garnered a giggle from them, even if it wasn't a strong one for how down they could all tell he was for this now hanging over his head. Harry was at least trying to silently convince himself that's what made this detention feel so awful, that he'd already let Angelina down because of it...

"I can't even picture Flitwick taking pity on you and accepting that," Lily sighed

"What does that have to do with homework?" Lily blinked in confusion.

"It certainly sets a glum mood, but sunshines no better, then you just want to be outside," Remus shrugged for the odd comment, while James and Sirius exchanged a speculative look.

Sirius mock wiped a tear from his face at the other three's confused looks for that, saying, "I'm just so proud of his wondrous lying skills, you think he'll give me lessons?"

"You certainly don't need them in theatrics," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Would you two let it go," he groaned before they could again comment on his odd habit of doing that, or even worse, tell him that was still the best option.

Remus' face was flushed with absolute disgust by the end of this, and he hardly needed to look up to see that mirrored on everyone else. Lily even had the urge to go hunt down Hickory and make certain her pet wouldn't befall such a travesty as that mental torture chamber was causing her mind's eye.

"I'm going to be sick," Sirius vowed, thankful there wasn't a spot of pink inside this room or he really might have been.

"I didn't believe you were really going to go through with it," Remus turned disbelieving eyes on Harry. "You must know you've a better chance getting Snape to wash his hair."

The insult had been a default, but he was surprised when Lily smiled just for a moment before shooting him a nasty look as he quickly kept going.

"I could have told you that before you walked in," James sighed for his poor son.

They all flushed with renewed hatred at that woman phrasing this as such. At this point they'd pay Harry just to skip all of her detentions and see what kind of fallout that caused, hopefully it would be taken up with Dumbledore or something and he'd step in for Harry having to suffer anymore time with this vile amphibian.

"I'll shove that lesson so far up your arse even your extended tongue couldn't reach it with help from a Ton Tongue Toffee," Sirius hissed with pure vile.

"Remind me to help refill McGonagall's biscuit tin for her," Lily said with just a touch of relief. She would never be against her son standing up for himself, but there was a time and place as well. He was already in enough trouble with this, no need to keep stirring the shit pot.

"No thanks to your slimy arse," James snarled.

"That's it?" Remus cocked his head in confusion, all so thrown by such an oddly mundane task they failed to notice Harry now clasping the back of his right hand so tightly in his left he would leave a bruise there soon.

"I half expected her to ask you to help remove her warts or something," Sirius tacked on, while Remus kept going now just out of disgust to get away from that mental image.

Both of Harry's hands were now shaking so hard he couldn't even hide them from sight if he'd tried, his sleeves would start trembling just as bad. Lily caught sight of this and gave him a concerned look, but she was floored from asking by her mind failing how to phrase the question. Nothing like this should be causing him to look like that...

"You've far more talent than I do," James snapped.

Harry couldn't seem to stop himself as he jumped to his feet, wringing the back of his hand anxiously as he avoided all eyes. He could feel it, that need to run and duck for cover, to warn them they were fixing to find out something he did not need to be told they weren't going to like, and yet the words refused to come to him as always, leaving him simmering with an urge he physically could not act on and leaving him a mess.

"Harry what on earth-" they tried in concern, but one hard shake of his head was all the reminder they needed he could not answer, so Remus went back to the book while now on the edge of his seat.

"It's only the second day?" Sirius quickly butted in with confusion to try and take Harry's mind off whatever he was fixing to relive. "Surely it's paperwork from her job at the Ministry or something."

Harry didn't even give an acknowledgment he'd heard.

Four very confused brows went up at that, all of them still watching Harry mender to the doorway and back as if forcing himself not to run from the room from some reaction he seemed to be expecting from them. Odd as this was, Remus still couldn't find anything to indicate what the bloody hell had him so turned up.

James opened his mouth in confusion, he still couldn't understand how he was writing anything without the ink, but he was still watching Harry with worry so at first missed the odd sound of Remus' voice taking on the new tone as he read out the answer.

For just a moment, Remus had looked almost politely puzzled at what he was reading, his mind trying to understand the idea of this thing. Then his mouth went dry, and he was hardly able to finish what he was saying as his vision blurred, and he like everyone else was once again looking where Harry was deftly trying to hide his hand from sight.

It wasn't even kind of working, as on his next hesitant steps through the room James managed to snag his elbow, and almost gently lifted his left away to gaze at the faded white pattern. The words were not legible, but the area was indeed much more faded than the rest of his hand, and now that he knew what he was looking for, the odd shape of it did indeed indicate the misshapen spot could indeed be letters too blurred over time.

Lily began in a deadly quiet voice, "don't you dare tell me that is what you are to be using all night."

Harry was gently trying to tug his arm away to get a release from James now as he calmly answered, "I believe so."

Sirius hardly heard the reply as he was on his feet with such a deep throated growl he was as likely as Moony to rip someone's throat out in a moment. For now he could only physically act by kicking the table, causing it to flip and break into several peice against the fireplace across the room. It did nothing to alleviate the need he had to do this to that woman's face.

No one stopped him as he pulled out his wand and the rest of the table shattered into splinters, but sadly the noise caused just as loud a raucous upstairs that had Lily sprinting out of sight, though she was moving more from memory than anything as she could hardly see straight through her anger.

Harry finally got his arm free from his dad, who simply sat there gazing at nothing but seeing pink. Harry looked at all of them, visibly white and shaking from anger, while he still rubbed at the back of his hand as he couldn't think of a thing to say. This wasn't like at the Dursleys, he wasn't going to bother with futile attempts to put them at ease because he honestly felt just as angry as them.

His mother came back with an eerily blank face, somehow all the scarier she was holding her infant. Harry nearly ducked for cover as she drew her wand as well, but all she did was repair the damaged table, and laid her infant son down on the floor with his blanket and made a little mobile appear above him. There was a stag, a gray and black dog, and a broom hanging from it, and as she gave it a tap for it to begin, it began humming a little melody Harry vaguely recognized as his mother's voice from the other day.

"I am going to kill her." The cold, simple way she said it made Harry's skin crawl as she stood back up and marched back to her place next to James. "No one leaves a mark on you like that-"

"Merlin's shit she's as bad as Voldemort!" Sirius cut her off with a still roaring howl that was definitely the cause of the babies continued wailing. Sirius physically bit his tongue to convince himself to stop, leaving the crying echoing in the background of all their minds feeling oddly appropriate until his toy caught his attention again and the tears cut off.

Harry shifted restlessly from foot to foot in the uncomfortable silence that followed, but still was drawing a blank on anything to say, so though he knew it would do no good, he couldn't think of anything else to do but to go over to Remus and try to tug the book away.

Remus gave him a hard look, his voice barely controlled calm, "unless you're suppressing the reaction to curse her where she sits and go to Dumbledore, I don't quite think we're done talking."

Harry sighed with unease, but didn't bother to deny the thought hadn't even crossed his mind, as the others seemed to know full well. He did still try to explain himself, "what good would it do to let her think this bothered me?" He quickly finished his own question before anyone could interrupt, "no more good than if I'd gone to Dumbledore. If he let her into that school, there was nothing he could do about the detentions she set." He finished by crossing his arms defiantly. "I'm there because she thinks I'm a stupid attention seeking child, and she won't get me to back down because of this." He faltered just a bit though, when their stone like faces now held tones of disbelief.

"Harry," Lily began in a forced calm voice that was scaring him more than if she'd been screaming. "There is a time and place for you to stand up for yourself, but-"

James cut her off, beginning to lose his own battle and starting to shout as well, "she was actually torturing you Harry! Not some joke like Filch always was, this is wrong!"

Harry kept himself stiff for the argument, but was surprised he could feel himself wavering in the face of their concern. He could already feel he had this argument with someone else, he sincerely doubted Umbridge herself, and he'd won during those times, yet there was something about looking at his parents in particular, their deep concern and anger for this that really drove home for him he may have bitten off more than he could chew with this one. He at least had the vague, almost hopeful impression he wrote to Sirius about something soon, so he gave in for now and hoped that would appease them when he most likely came to that conclusion in his own time.

Remus watched him back down with as much defense as anyone stopping an argument could have, and it made him wish he'd vomit already rather than have this feeling sitting inside him. If he was acting this way towards them, would Umbridge perhaps be even worse than this? He couldn't imagine that being possible, but the person who was having his nephew carve his hand open like that would now be held in the same light as the Dursleys or Voldemort.

Lily'd had many moments she wanted more than anything to be there for her son, but none so violent before now. What this cretin was doing to her baby had her already cataloging a few of her favorite fire charms for starters.

James was fighting hard with the resistance he was having to hold not to run his fist through a wall imagining it a toad like face. This just had to be illegal, and if he didn't hear about Sirius bursting in soon to show his idea of this James wasn't going to be able to hold himself still much longer.

Remus had sadly already guessed that part. The red haze tinting the edge of his vision hadn't left since that realization, as somehow this was still by far the worst thing they'd yet to read. Hearing of Voldemort attacking Harry was equal, but even this was starting to surpass that. Least that madman was honest about his intentions and had never hidden the fact that he wanted Harry dead. The torture he'd inflicted on Harry that night at least hadn't been self inflicted!

Sirius was still trembling with fury, the urge to break something had not yet left him. How long had Harry endured this for a permanent mark to have been left?!

James could not stop another outburst erupting, "dammit Harry, this is not a test of wills! You subjecting yourself to doing this is in fact exactly what she wants, how does giving in to her-"

"Would you really go crying to someone else, let her win?" Harry shot back, his right hand still clenched in a tight fist, though now from actually remembering the pain of this than fear of it coming.

"Harry, telling when you see something illegal going on isn't being a snitch, it's what you're supposed to do," Lily was still forcing herself to remain very still, keep her eyes on her infant rather than going into the raging fury that was building more every moment.

Harry did not look convinced though, and James ruffled up his hair so forcefully it looked like he was trying to pull it out. Was this what the Dursleys had taught him? Because of all the things they'd done to him Harry had taken their abuse and silence to the next level, and he'd never share with anyone the physical trauma he was put through? How long did this go on?!

Remus could actively feel the vomit climbing and was expecting it any moment now to cover these pages, though hopefully that would finally take away the crimson tinted words. This was just one night that was leaving Harry's hand marked, and he still had three days to go. He couldn't delusion himself this would never happen again either, not with something so deep in his skin. He couldn't keep doing this, force out words about Harry in this situation like it was some normal book...

The binding snapped, pages scattered the carpeted floor, and Hickory poked his head in curiosity and began swatting at once at a loose few. Remus didn't even seem to realize it as his lip curled in outrage at that lifeform touching Harry after what she'd done to him.

Harry opened his mouth, decided it would be better for his ear drums if he held back his comment, and simply shook his head at the lot of them. This wasn't even as bad as Quirrell pinning him to the ground back in first year, he honestly thought they were being entirely too dramatic about this. Umbridge may be a foul, twisted creature the likes of which Trevor wouldn't go near, but he'd honestly been hoping someone would at least understand why he did what he had, not keep looking in a way that made him wish he could post troll guards at the doors and windows. He did pull out his wand and repair the book, summoning it back to his hand, and kept going in the thick silence in as calm a voice as he could, though he was sure it was helping nothing that now the mark on his hand was more visible than ever.

Lily had to blink slowly upon realizing it had just slipped right into talking of the mundane world of homework, as if this happening to Harry really had been some simple annoying detention to him. Hickory, clearly annoyed his new toy had been taken away, tried to wind around her leg and meow with displeasure, but she could not bring herself to take notice of even this, all the normal feeling she could find left was keeping her eyes on her toddler.

"Harry, give that back." Remus finally seemed to have snapped to attention and was holding his hand back out, his face making it clear this wasn't up for debate.

Harry handed it back it over even as he shook his head at the lot of them. Clearly they were hoping he was fixing to tell Ron what had happened, but he could already feel he had no intentions of doing that. Still, if it kept their attention off murder even for a few moments he wasn't going to argue the point.

James could only distantly remember now what he'd been thinking about what Ron was up to, and even the fun of hanging over the other's heads what he was sure this was about couldn't hold his attention. He wanted to hear Ron convince his son he was being an idiot and drag him to Dumbledore for starters.

"Don't tempt her," Harry said with a forced laugh, crossing his arms in frustration when no one even pretended to join in.

Harry had to fight hard to repress a shiver from the lot of them glaring at that, but he met their eyes defiantly as he snapped, "what, it's not-" then he met his father's eyes and looked away shamefully, their fight from this morning still weighing heavily on his mind. He still wasn't sure if James had forgiven him for his omissions at the Dursleys place, and trying to put this off clearly wasn't doing himself any favors, so for now he instead pressed his mouth tight together and hoped Ron didn't push this any farther.

Sirius could feel his mind plucking at a past thread, how he'd have loved to make some superior comment about how Ron could have more going on there than sympathy for his friend, but Harry's face was now tight and drawn just as much from avoiding James' eyes as it was from still rubbing at the back of his hand in pain.

"Commitments!?" For just a moment the injustice of Angelinas comment at least got Sirius to stop contemplating murder. "Merlin, the girls acting like you're going to Charms club instead, not being tortured," he finished on the same vicious keil he'd been on.

Harry sighed. Even when they were in agreement, they still couldn't relax.

Harry really wished his friends would quit bringing that up, it caused him to shift anxiously and still not be able to say anything to the contrary amongst the thick layer of anger still pulsing in here.

Harry scowled at nothing in here instead of having to continue seeing their faces with that same look. He had no clue how long he could hide this from Ron and Hermione, but he doubted long enough his families temper had cooled, or at this point if it even would.

Lily finally felt her boiling anger simmer as she got a proper look at her son, and let out a small noise of sympathy as she got up to sit on the arm of the sofa and scooped his hand away from him so he'd quit rubbing at it, now she was. The skin twitching across the old scar in remembered distress finally started to slow.

Remus wanted to whack Harry over the head with the book for that comment, there was a difference between telling when something was being done to you and whining about a hard detention. He fought hard to resist the temptation though, forcing himself to remember it wouldn't help anything even if it would make him feel a bit better.

Lily had absolutely no desire just to lightly change the subject and pretend like this wasn't happening anymore, but at this point the lingering silence was even starting to make her infant uneasy on the floor. If he could feel the atmosphere even while the cat had crawled over and was trying to catch his mobile now, no matter how often it floated just out of reach, as further distraction she knew she should do something. "So you think Ron's practicing for the tryouts that Friday?"

Harry gave her such a pleased smile for any normal conversation it did make it worth it, even if her throat was still too raw for it to have come off completely normal.

"Yeah, reckon so. I didn't notice it at the time obviously, but I'm really hoping he makes it."

Sirius made a disgruntled little noise, but took pity on Lily and added in as well, "nothing better than playing Quidditch with your mates."

Remus felt like he was biting a lemon but put in casually enough, "poor Hermione's going to be left in the stands by her lonesome now."

James huffed, muttered a few more extra death threats for good measure, but finally nodded and said, "she can sit with Neville and cheer them both on."

Harry was actually smiling, and forcing himself to relax now. Even forced casual conversation was better than counting the ways each of them wanted to kill her.

"He's as adept at lying as Harry," Remus grumbled under his breath.

"Wonder if he put a leash on his broom," Sirius snipped.

He winced and wanted to smack himself over the head as he realized Ron's was hardly on the same level as his, as his mother suddenly crushing has hand informed him.

"Mum," Harry finally protested through gritted teeth. She had to concentrate on every finger to stop her death grip on that hand, to make sure no part of him was being hurt right now, even accidentally by herself.

Harry was clearly starting to feel a little desperate with the suffocating mood around him, almost understandable since he didn't feel the same way even if that part was mind boggling, so Sirius cobbled together some kind of compliment in, "you sure know how to hold your tongue."

Harry eyed him wearily, unsure how to reply to that and almost thankful he wasn't expected to.

Lily wished desperately her son's biggest concern was blowing off his homework for something that didn't involve his getting a scar out of it, now she wished she could go give those teachers the reason her son was struggling to do this for them. She was honestly hoping Mcgonagall would be mentioned any moment now demanding of Harry why this sudden change in what she'd heard was at least a good student. She gave her son credit he was even bothering to do the assignments honestly, instead of outright refusing.

"Mum," Harry tried to finally protest and pull his hand away in pain as her nails began digging into the mark as well. She released him instantly with regret she'd done so, but her fist only contracted again into her own palm, the anger wouldn't recede.

Harry still tried for a soothing tone of voice for the lot of them, "you must have known this was coming, it wouldn't scar if it kept healing so fast every time."

"If you try to pretend this isn't a big deal one more time mister, I will silence you," Lily promised.

Harry clipped his mouth shut and finally gave in that there was nothing else for it, and just decided he'd have to let them be angry at least until this week was up.

"I think we should check you weren't recently hit on the head on top of all this, thinking a thing like that," Sirius managed in some semblance of words rather than the deep growls it mostly was.

James already knew she'd passed Snape in his book. Snivellus was many things, and James owed him a good deck or two for a lot of them not just towards Harry, but who would have thought he could consider it a blessing Snape had never drawn his son's blood! Why was that a standard now?!

"Your friend's being used as an insult now?" Remus said bleakly, but that one had been surprising enough his anger had dropped for just one second.

Sirius narrowed his eyes, cocked his head to one side than the other, before shaking his head but ultimately saying nothing. He'd have liked to pass a crack along about Ron's stellar attempts there, but anything other than swear words were still escaping him.

Harry laughed, though he was sadly still the only one, at Ron's piss poor redirection. He was still half hoping it wouldn't work and he could go five seconds without hearing one of them promise something worse than death.

Lily arched a brow at that comment, thinking she'd have liked to smack Ron for hiding from the twins of all things. The least he could have done was walked by pretending he didn't care, but that one was almost sad.

"No Harry, he takes it down to the Shrieking Shack to polish it, didn't you know?" James rolled his eyes in exasperation at Harry, who just gave an eager smile back at any kind of normal response, even if James eyes had flickered to Harry's hand again and at once settled back into a scowl.

"He started by telling you not to laugh, then ended saying you could, Ron needs to pick his side," Remus snorted lightly.

"Better to ask forgiveness than permission," Sirius offered, while Remus stared blankly at him for a second before saying, "if you're going to try and say things like that, at least make sure they make sense first."

Sirius pouted at him, beginning to protest it had made perfect sense, but Remus was now ignoring him.

Harry was almost elated watching them pick at each other, even if it was more stilted than anything. He didn't care, it just wasn't in the Marauders nature to hold onto anger, even if they could keep a grudge for the rest of their lives.

"Thought you played with him a bit over the summers," James couldn't seem to stop himself joining in, while Lily rolled her eyes at the ceiling that of course it would be Quidditch to make them seem normal again.

"He was a Chaser with me, we didn't have a snitch or bludger of course," Harry shrugged. "One of the twins was always going around trying to knock us off while the other played Keeper. That summer Bill and Charlie were there we almost had a full game, but still Ron and I teamed up."

"Good to practice the other positions now and again," Sirius nodded with enthusiasm.

Harry looked like he wanted to keep going, just to sit around and chat about this for hours, but Remus wasn't going to let him put this off forever.

"Wonder why they switched it up with you around?" Lily asked politely, just because she couldn't deny her son and he was still in full swing chatting about this.

"I'm sure I just took Charlie's place on the team up's," Harry smiled for her attempts even as he restrained himself this time in admission.

"I wonder what he would have done if I hadn't gotten detentions the first week," Harry said in surprise.

"Probably asked you to join him," Sirius shrugged.

"Oh I'm sure they won't," Lily began even as the others snorted lightly in agreement.

She tisked at the lot of them while Harry was almost completely relaxed again.

"I doubt they will anytime soon," Remus agreed.

Harry groaned in misery and buried his face in his hands, only successfully putting the mark back in the spotlight. He couldn't help it, he just couldn't go one moment without someone harping on about this could he.

"Hum," Sirius uttered between gritted teeth, "hand you can stick in your pocket, or broom the size of you, oh yes, very hard to hide them both."

"Ron had better make Keeper," Harry grumbled as he rubbed at his wrist, "reflexes were good enough to grab me before I could."

Remus said that with the equivalent of speaking of The Chamber of Secrets.

Harry thought they were being too dramatic again and wished this chapter would end.

"There's the proper response!" Sirius threw his hands in the air in exasperation.

"Hallelujah at least one of you does," James agreed, his mouth still twisted in his own disgust, he hadn't taken his eyes off the white mark on his son for a solid minute now.

"Enough power to report her for student abuse!" Lily had to try very hard to stop herself shrieking in frustration again.

Harry just frowned at her oddly as he reminded, "to be reported to the same man who also thinks I'm a lying attention seeker?"

Lily ceased, but her face only flushed with more frustration. She didn't care how it was done, Dumbledore had better do something to get that monster away from her boy even if he had to start a revolt on the Ministry to do it.

James still found that an absolutely ludicrous reason, Harry was being petty and honestly an idiot. Whatever Dumbledore was doing with his life he would put on hold for this madness! Despite trying to catch Harry's eye though, it was clear he still believed this as much as before and there just wasn't any good in convincing him of this now.

Remus gave an irritated huff at that painting cutting Ron off like that, as most likely Harry had taken the moment to dart up to bed without his friend furthering his point.

"I don't think anyone has," James agreed grimly.

Somehow, it was all the worse for the lot of them they knew it wasn't. If it had taken four days just for it to not begin healing properly, than just how many times had it taken for it to start scaring!? The answer was very obviously more than five, and they each wanted to do something far more than to just sit here hearing about that.

"Thought that red hair would come in handy for once," Sirius began jittering in place, his wand still clutched tightly in his hand almost hopefully as he eyed the fireplace, Harry fearing at any moment he was going to snap and go hunting that woman down.

Harry sighed, but held his hand back out for his mother. She took it gratefully, but gingerly this time, cradling it as if he were made of glass while her thumb kept pressure on his old wound.

James was vibrating in place, torn between wanting to hear of more happy details about Quidditch and continue raging about this abuse happening to Harry. Contemplate the bad, or at least try and think on some good. He was entirely grateful Remus was the one reading, he wasn't sure which he would have focused on.

Sirius still almost wished Harry would simply up and leave, go down to that pitch and see what that woman did to stop him. It truly was the worst part to him Harry was subjecting himself to this, allowing it to happen without a fight because he'd somehow convinced himself he was proving a point, instead he was doing the opposite and just giving in to her will.

"Don't break the book again," Harry groaned when Remus started tensing in disgust. "We've still got ages to go, and this one's been more battered than all the others already."

"She'd better stop putting those webbed fingers near you then," Remus muttered without remorse, but managed to not rip the binding off even if his tendons stayed visible.

Remus froze, finally his mind being released from picturing that ghastly woman, only to focus on the one threat above her.

"The last time your scar hurt like that-" Lily began uneasily, but broke off because they all knew what she meant.

"Used to be it was just when you dreamed though," Remus agreed brokenly, "and when he was around. Now it's happening even more?" His voice was quickly rising into an almost shouting level of panic at the end.

Harry couldn't bring himself to pull his hand away from his mother to rub at his scar in remembrance of this happening, so instead he tried to understand the other feeling that he was sure he should have been able to identify. Surely not while around Umbridge, but a feeling he got every time he looked at his parents, like-

"What do you think caused it this time?" Sirius' voice instantly cut off Harry's train of thought. "Not that toadstool surely."

"If being around the fake Moody didn't, I don't think that walking dung would even if she was working for him," James disagreed.

"I still wish I knew why it was happening at all," Lily grumbled as the only answer they'd ever vaguely gotten for that had been unsatisfactorily given by Dumbledore. Though it wasn't entirely anyone's fault, perhaps no one would ever know, this was an entirely new thing.

Remus wished they had more to go on, anything else to say or speculate, but in the absence of that, even just to be done with this bit of torture Harry was enduring already just by being in the same castle as Trevor's ugly stepsister.

"I, she can't have!" Lily whimpered uneasily. "There's just no way. She's a vile creature, but not like Quirrell was, it can't be possible with Voldemort having his own body now."

"The timing of that though," James didn't need any more reason to want to gut this blight, and yet he'd been given one. "I'm not sure I'm buying the coincidence of it all, happening when she touched him."

"For the second time though," Sirius reminded, "if this had happened the first I'd be more inclined to agree."

"We just don't have enough to go on," Remus huffed with a sorrowful eye on Harry, wishing he did have more answers for him, as clearly he was watching them eagerly like he hoped they'd crack this wide open any moment. He seemed to realize as he looked to Remus though that he'd just have to let them speculate for now rather than pressing for any more facts from him, no matter how much he wanted to pry open his mind and give them.

"I think Ron made the team," Lily said distantly, Quidditch the last thing on all of their minds, everyone was still very deep in thought over this latest development.

Lily had not forgotten that one for a moment though, her gentle warm touch all that was stopping Harry pressing his sleeve as if to stem the remembered flow in pain.

Sirius couldn't help a snort of laughter escape, even if it was far more subdued than normal with his mind so off track.

"I'm sure he's disappointed she's not hanging off his arm with admiration," James agreed distantly.

"So? The little first years were probably all out dueling or something," Remus half heartedly played off, his mind entirely not on it.

"She says after the fact," Lily sniffed.

"Well going for the jugular does get your point across best," Sirius snorted while Remus automatically moved away from him for the reminder.

"I'm all the more glad she picked Ron then," James frowned on Ron's behalf.

"Not very good of her just to be banking he'd pan out because his brothers have talent though," Lily shook her head.

"Everyone seems to compare the lot of them, even the other students," Sirius muttered agreement.

"They're probably all scratching their heads trying to figure out why people keep leaving their stuff around more than usual," Sirius snorted enthusiastically this time at such a stupid change of subject.

"Not in the same way," Lily gently reminded while Harry nodded his agreement. At that time he'd been far more panicky over it, rather than now where he felt a bit more cool headed, though still with the same amount of answers.

"I don't think that would cause the sensation though," Remus muttered disagreement.

"I'm still not saying I believe in that coincidence," James shook his head again.

"Well both Ron and Hermione together aren't usually wrong," Sirius tried a wheedling voice, for some reason still trying to get Harry to admit that in here.

"Usually because they're agreeing with me," Harry said flatly, trying to hide his sarcasm with a flat voice and failing a bit.

Remus stopped cold, but shook that off very fast and at once protested, "Harry, you know that's not true. He cares about you as a person-"

"Couldn't tell lately," Harry snipped right back.

Remus looked pleadingly to the others for backup, but felt all the worse he wasn't seeing much more of it there.

In all honesty, they had been wondering for ages just why Dumbledore had taken such an interest in Harry when he'd no moral obligation to whatsoever. Why place him with the Dursleys instead of letting Sirius take him? Why do anything with Harry's safety once Voldemort had been announced dead and Dumbledore shouldn't have had a reason to think so otherwise. The answer circled back to the uniqueness of Harry's scar, and perhaps their old headmaster wanting to keep an eye on it.

Remus didn't want to believe this though, not the same Albus who'd seen past the monster and allowed him to go to school, so he let none of them voice any of their ideas and kept going loudly for Hermione's protest.

"It took you till Friday to think of that!" Sirius demanded, the thought had been in the back of his head since he'd had a clear thought again.

"It only happened that day," Harry said back in confusion, before the astounded faces reminded him that wasn't all his godfather was talking about. He failed to respond further though, waving back to the book as he could already remember Hermione's disapproving face of the idea and he had no doubts she'd tell him why.

"Get creative!" Sirius said just a bit desperately. "Honestly Harry, I know you know how to get around the truth now, I can take a hint and read between the lines of whatever you send."

Harry just gazed sadly at him, but there was nothing left in him to convince himself he hadn't given up on the idea quickly enough.

"I'm starting to wonder why Ron puts up with the two of you," James heaved a sigh. "Can't even scrape together a laugh during this joyous occasion."

Lily made a soft attempt at a laugh for the girls enthusiasm that was still being restrained by her ever growing fear of her son's past, and future.

Remus all too happily closed his chapter with a very sharp snap, still having the desire for that extendable tongue to be caught in the pages.

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I found a kitten! His name is Tiki Torch! I find great irony I found him in a bush while writing the chapter about the despicable Umbridge and her fondness of cats! That is all.


	14. PERCY AND PADFOOT

You know what I find really odd? Sirius is only specifically referenced two times as Padfoot, Remus calls him that once in the Shrieking Shack, twice if you count him first telling who he is though I don't, and Lily's later letter. Yet the two chapter titles about him use his nickname as well instead of Sirius, and I'm not sure why.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Lily did not take the book with any amount of happiness. She couldn't stand the idea of just casually going on about Harry's life while that tyrant was torturing her son on a weekly basis now. The only remote bright spot she could picture was the end of the year where hopefully she'd sustain something far worse than having to leave the job. She took the book from Remus very grudgingly and trudged back to her spot next to James in a heavy silence, only Harry still seemed anxious to try and pretend like that part of his life was no big deal.

"That's a surprise," Remus said conversationally enough, he could still be angry and keep things light for Harry's sake. "I'd think you'd have to be dragged out of bed with all your sleepless nights from before."

"Guess my brain was still wired for school," Harry shrugged with a smile at him for the attempt.

"Gash, can you imagine the horror," Sirius shuddered.

"Sounds nice actually," James snorted, "one nice long week to nap."

"Really Harry? You didn't realize the problem with Hermione's plan? You were the one who had to trick Dobby into getting that sock instead of just giving it to him yourself," Lily frowned at him in confusion.

"I honestly thought Hermione had found a way around that, and hadn't questioned her. Thought she really knew what she was doing," Harry shrugged.

"Well it's nice to know she's not infallible in her logic sometimes I guess," James snorted.

They all perked up with interest at that, they'd been assuming Harry had just been fixing to start on some homework or some such, but this was even better! Sirius was full blown smiling now that Harry really was going to write to him about anything!

"Very carefully," Remus smiled.

"Or you could charm it so that it only shows you the words when you give it a very vague command," James grinned.

Harry looked a bit disappointed he'd never thought of that, he really wished he had asked his Marauders how they'd charmed their map to do that.

Sirius snorted violently before full blown laughing. Then he couldn't seem to stop for a moment. Lily looked on at him with a touch of concern for this reaction, Umbridge's horrid ways set her mind racing with every foul spell she knew to use on that woman for what she'd done to Harry. Just what on earth had Walburga Black done to Sirius for him to clearly be agreeing with Harry like this? She longed to ask, but respected it was his right to tell her if he ever wanted to.

"That was incredibly vague," Remus beamed with pride.

"So, goal met then?" Harry smiled sheepishly, he'd been a little worried they were all going to tell him off for contacting Sirius considering how worried they'd all been about him joining him at the train.

"Absolutely," James nodded, "you're already a natural at this."

"That was a little on the nose," Lily giggled.

"Still credit for trying," Sirius chuckled.

"Definitely not, you're safe on all counts," they all agreed, causing Harry his first real smile since he'd been back at school.

"I'm sure he'll be back in no time," Lily said with more confidence than she really felt. She was very worried about Hagrid as well, what was taking him so long?

"A classic then," James smirked.

"How on earth could he be bored by such a thing?" Remus drawled.

"Well that's fair enough," Sirius agreed.

"Merlin, doesn't anyone let people have some fun in that place," James sighed.

"Maybe she was just mad you stopped her heading that way as well," Sirius snorted, "I've caught her a fair few times trying to go up there pestering the owls."

"You didn't bother calling me that last year, why start now?" Sirius chuckled.

"Now I actually felt the need for it," Harry muttered, shifting just a bit with unease as the safety of his godfather came into question.

"Can you imagine how many times that happens a day and no one sees it," Sirius looked a bit amused.

"Imagine if they roamed the grounds more than the forest," James agreed. "People would be constantly knocking into them, and seeing things happen because of those and no one would be able to figure out why except those that saw them."

"You lot are enjoying this idea far too much," Lily tried to repress a smile at the idea by telling them.

"What can we say, we have a certain fondness for invisibility," Remus smirked.

"Hey, look who finally gets a moment alone with his crush," Sirius threw his hands up in victory.

"I don't find the owlery the most romantic setting," James smirked.

"Let's see if Harry can get through with this one without making a fool of himself," Remus snickered, "or this time it'll be entirely his fault."

"Your encouragement is the limit," Harry grumbled.

"Harry, you have yet to say that, ever," Sirius smirked, achieving his goal in getting a rise out of Harry who simply scowled at him for now.

"Considering you've never had a proper conversation, starting casual is probably best," James said fairly.

"Could have asked something more direct, like what she'd gotten her mother," Lily objected.

"Or I could go read this in another room without you lot," Harry huffed to try and get them to stop.

"You wouldn't dare," Sirius gasped.

"And miss out on our brilliant commentary?" Remus looked a touch offended.

Lily started giggling a bit when Harry didn't back down from his threat as she turned back anyways.

"Well I like her," James beamed at once.

"A very good point she managed to steer right into that sport," Sirius agreed, which Harry supposed was better than them picking on him, so he let it go.

"I'm sure he doesn't hate the team," Remus said fairly, "just the fans who suddenly like them."

"Entirely not the point," Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"Oh look, another supporter," Sirius said quickly rather than letting Harry dwell on that again for a moment, "that's three to two."

"Are you going to keep a tally of everyone in the school?" Harry asked with some bemusement.

"Don't tempt him," James sighed.

"He's already not doing a good job anyways, it's five to two counting Ron and Hermione," Remus reminded.

"Those were given," Sirius brushed him off.

"Not if you're going to do a complete poll of all 500 something students-"** Remus began disagreeing, but Lily finally cut through the lot of them.

"That'd be a sight," James snickered at the idea.

"Priorities," Remus agreed lightly.

"I'm not sure of the reaction you were hoping to get with that one," Lily said in disgust.

"I certainly wouldn't find that braver, but stupid on your part for not saying something about it before now," James agreed with a hard look at Harry who chose now to check to see if his shoelace was still tied.

Lily puffed up her cheeks before letting the air out slowly to make sure her voice came out neutral as she asked, "why would he think that?"

"Maybe it was someone playing a prank?" Harry brushed off, not wanting to think much of it as he was still caught on his Cho interactions with a smile.

"Harry, you don't find it just a bit concerning someone was trying to take your mail from you?" Remus wheedled to try and keep him on track while everyone's eyes were still narrowed with dislike over this.

Harry did rethink things over, and he certainly felt a ball of anxiety forming in him at the thought now, but he was finally enjoying just a bit of his time remembering school again and don't want them to keep ruining it with suspicions, so he just shrugged again.

Lily hoped that meant nothing did come of this moment, rather than worrying at her lip for the implications of something she did not like.

"What's he going to do if you had?" James snorted, his old joy of tormenting Filch quickly rising to the top.

"Surely, it'll involve whipping or something," Sirius snickered, "that'll make the clothes come right off."

"Urgh," Lily grumbled, she'd never taken Filch's threats so lightly as the lot of them, but then she supposed, she'd never had to suffer a detention with him either so she could see why they played this off as a joke.

"Are you sure she's not a Keeper?" James threw his head back with laughter, "because I think she is."

"And you say I come up with bad puns," Sirius snickered along.

"You'll what? Come on man, finish your threats, it's far healthier," Remus said almost encouragingly.

"She asks after defending you," Lily giggled.

"Proper timing," James agreed.

"Lookie there, finally making some progress," Sirius couldn't quite keep the mocking tone out of his voice even as he applauded Harry.

"Looks like third time's his charm, he's beaten Prongs out by a mile," Remus agreed.

"Come on, 394 really isn't that bad in comparison," Sirius put on James' voice in a fair impression.

James chucked a pillow at him while Lily kept going.

"Is that all it takes putting you in a good mood?" James huffed, still giving his two friends the stink eye. "Chatting with a pretty girl? Maybe we should try and convince Andromeda to come over next time you're in a bad mood."

"I don't think the prelude to that conversation would be worth it," Harry rolled his eyes.

"It's sad he's surprised to see you happy," Sirius snorted.

"He wants to train before training, Merlin I want to cry just thinking about it," Remus groaned.

"Don't know what you're talking about Moony, I'll take some hits with the ground over the pummeling my brain took over homework," Sirius shrugged.

"I would never say any such thing, why would Hermione imply otherwise?" Sirius demanded while Harry chuckled fully again at that joke.

"I'm sure the removal of Fudge from his Minister position wouldn't keep her from talking about that," James rolled his eyes.

Lily choked hard as she spat the name out in surprise, and James wasn't going to sit around and wait for her to get her breath back as he lunged forward and took the book away from her, reading out in a fevered haste-

His face was going red, he had yet to take a breath, so Lily reached forward and placed her hand on the back of his neck, using as calm a voice as she could manage, "breath James, he's still fine."

"Right, yeah," he said jerkily, some normal color returning to his face as he studied the words and then glared up at his best mate.

To his infuriation, Sirius just shrugged with a bland look in place, saying, "look at it this way Prongs, even if I do, I'll know how not to get caught that way."

Remus' hands twitched, he really was going to start strangling him here in a moment if he didn't stop playing this off as a joke.

"Sirius, this really isn't the time for jokes," Harry stunned them all by snapping, his face bone white as he watched him. "How do you think I'll feel when-" his vision blurred white before he could say anymore, beginning to convulse and clearly suffering for trying to remember something.

Even beginning to guess what that could be had all of them breathless with fear, but Sirius rounded himself back enough, talking earnestly but softly to Harry now, "alright pup, you got it. No more making fun of Prongs no matter how dramatic he's being."

Harry's vision swam as he focused back on Sirius, something dark in him warning he didn't want to remember the warning he'd almost given. He believed that feeling, because the first option it meant just couldn't be true, he couldn't lose Sirius. So, it must be something else, Sirius just got really hurt or something...

It was the only conclusion any of them could comprehend, the alternative wasn't bearable. Lily had to gently pry the book from James' death grip as she went back to her spot, ignoring her own shaking voice for that heart stopping moment.

Remus forced himself to roll his eyes, to focus on this detail that Ron really hadn't noticed any such thing.

Sirius was also restraining himself from saying he didn't even blame Ron for not focusing on such a stupid little detail, but he didn't think that would be well received right now considering his last throwaway comment.

Sirius turned as white as Harry had just been. If that rat was never caught...he couldn't do it, he couldn't go back to prison again, one that was somehow conceivably on par with Azkaban...

"I don't give a damn what Dumbledore said," Sirius snarled with absolute conviction. "I'd rather die outside that house than be a prisoner inside it again."

He crossed his arms defiantly, waiting for someone to argue with him, but not even Harry could bolster himself to do this. If he'd had to go back to living at the Dursley's full time, even for his own safety...he'd be doing something desperate as well.

"Not more on-" Remus pleaded, having to resist the urge to grab Sirius and not let go until those thoughts of his were no longer an issue.

"No, no," Harry murmured, still not back to his normal color, "something other than Sirius caught my attention, if you can imagine."

Sirius managed a giggle that didn't quite hit normal, but if Harry was forcing himself to move past the moment than clearly, they'd over read his reaction, something else must be going on...not that Harry just couldn't bear to understand his own thought, that wasn't an option.

James managed only a semi hysterical giggle for that.

No one spoke while Hermione read out the charges, but by the time she'd finished and looked up in stunned disbelief, she found them all slack jawed. What they were hearing wasn't possible. Not the Sturgis who'd just been inducted into the Order, had gone to Dumbledore and begged the man to let him help in any way possible after he'd witnessed a muggle child beaten in the street. So how on Earth had he somehow managed to get himself tangled up into stealing from the Ministry? Sent to Azkaban? Why had he even wound up there, that bit about refusing to speak for himself stuck out more than anything, as surely Dumbledore would have stepped in. If he had for Harry than they couldn't imagine he wouldn't have for a faithful Order member as well...but then again, they also already knew of at least one instance where he'd let an Order member go to Azkaban without speaking a word for him. If he could do that to Sirius, they'd believe he could do that to anyone.

Harry was less following that train of thought and more trying to understand how someone from the Order had done that, but his first thought was a frame up. The man had been conned into it somehow... then he went cross-eyed in pain. He'd already suffered one memory blast a second ago for something far more precious to him regarding his godfather, he wasn't going to be pressing on this.

Lily was still waiting for someone to say something about this, but it was clear no one really could, this was too much happening back to back and they needed a minute to process, so Lily was hoping reading about Harry go through this would help.

"Oh, that part wasn't so surprising," Lily murmured, "the Ministry takes their breaking and entering very-" she broke off with a nasty glare at Sirius, who managed a real smile and almost a pout for Lily not slipping up.

"I'm sure if they knew they'd put that in the story," Remus frowned.

"Maybe not," James disagreed, "could be something very secret and important, don't want word spreading around about it."

"I, could be I guess," Sirius struggled, though he really had a problem understanding what the Order would have to do with the Ministry when they were so at odds.

"If so, then him being in Azkaban is all the fouler," James snarled in outrage.

"Perhaps he just wasn't doing this at that time, I'm positive he came around and explained himself before going on for more work," Remus reasoned out.

They all considered the idea for a moment, but not everyone was entirely convinced. Lily at least hoped the Ministry would never fall that far, but she still also held out hope there was something else going on they just couldn't get information from that about. Harry also wouldn't know, leaving them in the dark on this.

James and Sirius seemed to liken to the idea, in fact it explained a lot of his past behavior if he was now regularly being conned up there and then didn't explain this until after the fact to the Order for security reasons.

Remus found it plausible enough, though still a bit too underhanded for the Ministry at this stage. From all accounts, they were still working on discrediting Dumbledore, and though making one of his associates into this light was a next step, why make the piece so small then? They'd have made this front headline news if they were pushing for this tactic, yet it seemed a miracle the piece was in the paper at all. No, he still thought something else was going on here.

"How on Earth does she flip from that to homework?" Remus demanded, absolutely derailed from his train of thought.

"I'm sure Hermione can manage to switch any topic to essays," James scowled for this subject being brought up and then cut off so quickly, he wanted to know what was really going on with someone he considered a friend.

Sirius tisked at once, caught at once from his own speculation. "Don't know what she's on about, they're going to play Quidditch."

"So, you'll be heading down to the pitch soon," Sirius waved impatiently to get there.

Remus started snickering while nobody bothered acting surprised, even if Lily's mouth did thin just a bit in disapproval of this.

"Did she ever actually let you?" Lily asked astounded, as she hadn't at all picked up on this.

"Sometimes she 'accidentally' left her work out while she ran off to the Library for something," Harry chuckled, "but she never just pushed it over for us."

"Priorities," James agreed without a drop of sarcasm.

"I hope you remember that when you're up studying until Sunday," Remus winced in pity at the idea.

"That's fair honestly," James agreed, he hated lingering on things that weren't of importance as well, though he was still trying to pick apart that bit about Sturgis even while half listening to his sons Quidditch prows.

"I'd be more worried if she didn't honestly," Lily said fondly.

"If they were making cracks at him like that, it's no wonder he got a little frazzled during tryouts," Remus said in sympathy.

"Ron really shouldn't be letting those light things get to him," James scoffed in disbelief, "not only have the twins said far worse to him before, but the buildup to a game is brutal. Ron's got to have better nerves to keep up."

"Did we ever establish what the rules are for spectators to practice?" Harry grumped.

"Nope," James popped the p for emphasis. "Sadly, the pitch stands are open at all times, they hardly have a guard up after all. If you call off practice to go find a teacher to complain to, then you get the same end results of having practice cut up and your time will run out for the next person anyways."

Harry grumbled something but admitted he could do nothing more about this.

'Says the one on the Firebolt,' Remus thought in sympathy for Ron at that comment.

"It's nice even they have their limits," Sirius frowned in sympathy for Ron.

"I'm positive they'd never have a go at their brother in front of spectators," James said at once, "family boundaries and all that. They can pick on him all they like, but if someone else does it, then there's going to be a problem. Mocking him while they are being the opposite of that."

Sirius nodded in absolute agreement while Lily grinned at him before going on.

"I wish that one was more of a joke," Lily groaned, considering her son had successfully woken up in there all four years.

"Ooph," all five of them winced for that pain, though James tried to bolster, "least that one wasn't entirely his fault, Katie's got to work on her reflexes as well."

"He speaks from experience of one to many Quaffles in the face," Sirius agreed.

"Well he was only used to playing with one post, back at home," Harry defended lightly.

"Guess there is room for adjustment time," James agreed.

Lily winced upon the word three. She wasn't even much of a Quidditch fan and she was starting to feel bad for Ron, the boys were past that and starting to shift with unease at this poor display. They liked Ron a lot, but maybe he wasn't cut out for this game on such a level, not everyone was.

"Well that can't be good," Remus yipped at once in concern.

"Just what did the twins do?" Sirius agreed in a sudden surge. "I remember them saying they hadn't perfected the nosebleed one yet, but I thought by giving her that it would at least stem the flow, not make it worse!"

"They gave her the purple pill," James soothed, though his own twitching showed he wasn't entirely okay with this either, "surely they're not just using her for a test dummie."

"What does he mean by mistake?" Lily demanded dangerously. "Thought they were color coded for a reason, how could he give her the wrong one?"

They really had no answer for this, it wasn't like the twins to be so careless with their own products.

"It's nice she thaws on them when it counts," Remus chuckled.

Sirius couldn't help but snort lightly for his snap, she had made the presumption, even if it was right.

"There's my little Gryffindor," James beamed for the response he'd have given.

"Oh Harry, don't let yourself get so psyched out as well," Sirius tried to comfort, "that won't help Ron."

"Malfoy really has this way of sticking in my head," Harry huffed.

"Lovely mental imagery," Remus winced in sympathy.

"Well it's not as if you had much of a choice," James said fairly, "what with being physically tortured and all," his voice finishing with flat ice.

Harry winced and hid his hand from sight again, knowing they weren't letting that one go anytime soon.

"Exactly what text was he using to be swapping all those?" Remus asked in sympathy.

"The book was upside down, he didn't even seem to notice he was as exhausted as I was," Harry sighed. "I probably would have noticed soon, I was almost done with mine."

"Why's she apologizing, I thought she always critiqued your homework," Lily said in surprise.

"Ron looked ready to make her eat that quill as he was using it," Harry winced, his best mate not in the mood for Hermione to be doing this over his shoulder in that way.

"I was under the impression she always criticized him," Sirius said lightly.

"I'm still convinced that's their form of flirting," Remus snorted, thinking Ron was looking for a good row to let off some steam, and Hermione was more than likely his usual go to with that.

"Not Percy's owl?" James yelped in shock as he leaned over Lily's shoulder to read that one.

"Why do you even remember that detail?" Sirius asked as he certainly hadn't.

Lily shushed them both while reading with an honest touch of hope, maybe Percy was trying to come around and apologize? Hopefully that letter was for all his siblings and he'd made up with his parents?

"I'm sure the Professor will appreciate the attention to detail," James muttered as he was still trying to peek over Lily's shoulder and see what this was about, while she was just as effectively ignoring him.

"That was not an encouraging start," Remus began without much surprise, though he still couldn't imagine what this was about, while Lily sighed with disappointment and couldn't bother clinging to her hope anymore as she got it out.

"That was entirely unnecessary," James huffed.

"As was that," Lily snipped at him.

"He didn't decide anything," Sirius threw his hands up in exasperation for people continually saying that. No one put their name down, no one did anything to become Prefect, it was entirely the decision of the Heads of Houses and ultimately Dumbledore.

Remus frowned in confusion, wondering what Umbridge had passed along that involved Ron at all? He supposed he wasn't too surprised if that thing was keeping tabs on Harry's friends as well though.

Harry spluttered with absolute indignation. What had he done to deserve that from anyone, let alone a person he'd gotten to know on at least some level? He'd never taken a liking to Percy, but he'd never thought he'd done anything to deserve him telling his own brother to drop him? Ron was Harry's first friend, his best friend, and more family than he'd ever had in his life before he met Sirius.

James fired up at once, snapping, "what does Percy want, for Ron to be an outcast and no one to like him like Percy is?"

The sad truth was, yes Lily did believe that. Percy may have heard this news and immediately hoped that he could reconnect with some member of his family, because he likely was lonely. That didn't excuse what he'd just told to do to her son.

"Why would that be his response?" Sirius scowled with anger as well as confusion for that one. Harry never once asked for that treatment.

With every line, Percy had written Remus continued growing more confused and angry, this one in particular caught him off guard. What did he mean Dumbledore wouldn't be in charge of the school anymore? That was an oddity in itself, he'd been the headmaster for generations already and in a most likely biased opinion the most reputable of them all. That didn't quite knock out the anger of the second part, more accurate his arse. Ron was Harry's best friend for years, he'd have the most accurate portrayal of Harry more than anyone, shouldn't this be his say so.

"Why am I not surprised this whole letter was planned out just to brag about himself winding up in the paper somehow," Sirius snarled.

"He doesn't get to use my name," Sirius huffed, to which he was ignored by all this time.

"Guilt of what!?" James thundered. "He saved his own damn life plus his useless cousin! What were they even trying to prove during that shame of a trial? That he cast a Patronus Charm for shits and giggles!"

"You should never argue with a stupid person, they'll just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." Remus snipped.

Lily did not get that out as if an intelligible person had said it, more like repeating the words of someone hit with a babbling curse. It made no sense in or out of context.

"Hinted implies subtly," James snorted with disgust.

"Climb as far up her brown nose as you can and make a comfrey nest with the rest of her eggs," Sirius mocked.

"Bet he wouldn't care one bit if he didn't know you were a Prefect," Sirius snapped.

James looked ready to light the book on fire any moment now. Percy had successfully insulted three people he cared about in one go! It took a lot of restraint on his part to remind himself Percy was still a child right now who shouldn't be transfigured into a pumpkin.

"If both sides keep standing around waiting for an apology instead of doing something, this war is going to be harder than I was thinking," Sirius grumbled as he remembered his own words.

"Burn that Harry. Burn that and shove the sod right up that Humongous Big Heads nose." James said at once with conviction.

"It's Ron's letter," Harry sighed, "I think he should get the right."

"That's fair," Sirius acknowledged.

The boys at least garnered a laugh for Harry's sarcasm at that, while Lily sighed deeply. She wished that hadn't been played off as a joke, but she supposed it was better than Harry getting mad at Ron's brother, and taking it out on Ron, which with his temper lately she wouldn't have even been surprised with.

"Less satisfying than up the nose," James sighed.

"But a proper in the moment response," Remus smiled.

Lily managed almost a happy giggle for this display, thinking Percy should send Ron more stupid letters if that's what got him to focus on his homework more.

Remus almost agreed, finding his utter dismissal of this perfect.

"What kind of odd look?" Lily asked with a torn expression, she really hoped Hermione wasn't going to try and give Ron a pep talk or something, it wouldn't do him any good right now.

"I think it was something close to surprise, maybe admiration," Harry tried to smile. "Ron wouldn't ever show it, but what Percy did cut all his siblings as bad as his parents, and so when Hermione saw Ron just turn right back to homework after what Ron considered further spurn must have gotten to her."

Lily couldn't help a small smile now as she kept going. It didn't make that letter feel any better, but it was nice to see Hermione acting like their friend rather than mother for a change.

"Doesn't she usually do that anyways when you're done?" Sirius chuckled.

"She'd certainly been threatening not to do it enough lately we were starting to believe her," Harry smiled in relief.

"No, I am," Sirius reminded as if anyone had forgotten.

"They're not even done with them though," James reminded.

"Still better to get her help while she was in a good mood, half the work done," Harry cheered, though the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

They all frowned as they realized Harry had taken that much more personally than they'd realized, he'd even played off the moment in here well enough they'd thought he'd just complete brushed it off, but clearly not.

"This is the same guy who went sobbing out into the freezing lake to check on his kid brother," Remus huffed in agreement. "How did he go from that to dismissing his whole family in so little time?"

"You've got me?" James sighed deeply.

Sirius hummed in agreement with that, even if he couldn't be there for Harry in the ways he wanted to be, he found comfort even the idea he could relate to Harry made him feel better.

"Oh, is Sirius making another appearance in the common room?" James asked as if confirming the date.

"Now he even has a safe place to do it from," Remus agreed almost as if bored at the idea.

Truth be told it made both of them smiled and were anxious at the same time. They couldn't easily forget where Sirius was in Harry's time and found him talking to Harry face to face would surely make him feel better for even a moment.

"Okay, that was blatantly doing homework for you," Lily snorted.

"I guess she truly was taking pity on us," Harry chuckled.

"I think this is the most he's complimented her in their entire friendship, she may be falling over from shock," Sirius chuckled.

"There's the proper response," James snickered.

"Sometimes I really can't tell when Hermione's being sarcastic," Remus smirked, "she must know that was a slip of the quill."

Harry just grinned and didn't reply.

"But I'm always serious, how could I be anything else?" Sirius cackled.

"She was actually saying your name you twit," Lily ground out, cursing that man's parents for cursing their child and everyone else in his life with this never-ending gag.

"You already sound so pleased with yourself," James snickered.

"I honestly believe I've been looking forward to this all week, Harry's letter just happened around the same time," Sirius grinned.

"I'm sure you'd have heard about it, and the twins would have helped to laugh the whole thing off by saying they'd slipped something in there, or any number of things." Remus rolled his eyes at her paranoia.

"Honestly, in a school full of magic, a funny shaped log wouldn't have lingered in her mind in the time it took for her to get to the stairs," James agreed.

"And that's exactly why he didn't," Sirius scoffed at Hermione's never ending complaints.

"She doesn't believe anyone can do anything without her help," James rolled his eyes.

"I understand the need for the haste, but why hadn't you told Ron about this already?" Lily asked.

"Same reason I'd yet to tell Hermione about my detentions," Harry shrugged uneasily as he brought this back up himself but still explained, "hadn't come up until I was caught at it."

"You have that philosophy far too often," Remus huffed.

"I always want to faint in surprise when you pass on such words of wisdom," Lily smiled at him while Sirius grinned and Harry took a moment to register the truth of those words he'd never considered before.

That caught their attention with surprise, Lily going on eagerly to see what that foul woman had been saying about her friend, and hopefully some colorful recanting of what Remus had to say about it.

James mouth dried considerably as he did remember this. She hadn't been subtle in taking a shot at Remus, and he already felt a nasty fear of where this was going.

Lily spluttered with indignation nearly before she'd gotten that out, and that had nothing on his two friends. They already had every reason in the world wanting that sherbet-reject to shrivel up and die, turns out they should have been going for her head all those years ago. Was this in fact finally the reason Remus had left his post? That would have happened right around the time he left Hogwarts, when Snape had released his name as working at Hogwarts!

Instead of shrinking away whenever this topic came up, Remus looked a tad concerned for this news, and not just for himself. It was very rare to find any other werewolves who even tried to maintain a normal lifestyle with a job and such, but with this bit of legislation being passed it was as if they were being told not to be even bother with that. He'd never complained of the restrictions of the jobs they could get because he recognized the danger in his own kind, but was the Ministry moving even further away in trying to phase out his whole kind, truly turn them into no more than animals that needed to be killed. How could they ever show how normal they could be if no one gave them a chance? Then he reminded himself what he'd long since came to the conclusion of, no one cared.

Remus blinked in a bit of surprise for that. From what he'd gathered, Harry hadn't much to do with him in his own time, so the fact that he had such a strong reaction like that really did warm him up a bit. He really hadn't thought it possible for a long time anyone outside his friends could see him as any more than a monster, but first Lily and now Harry...

"I'm sure she doesn't like them any better," Remus scoffed to try and lighten back up the mood, at least trying to pretend as he always did he hadn't heard a word about this. "House-elves do have a certain human shape but aren't, so they're in the-"

Sirius elbowed him in the ribs to get him to shut up, no one wanted to hear him play this off right now.

Sirius knew he'd rather lose his dessert privileges than indulge in any such nonsense, and wished Hermione would quit harping on that.

Harry thought the same, if only because it left such a tight feeling of unease in him he felt the urge to cry and refused to understand why.

"No, that would actually be useful," Remus snorted lightly, before wincing and wishing he hadn't spoken at all for the nasty look his friends gave him for that.

"You'd really think at some point she'd realize, no one cares!" James threw his hands up in exasperation.

"I've never heard something so idiotic in my life," James deadpanned, "and I've lived with these two for seven years."

"I, really wish Sirius was making a joke right now," Lily agreed.

"Was that supposed to be a compliment, or-" Sirius began in confusion before Remus shushed him.

"That'll be the day," Remus scoffed while Harry frowned at the idea, he really didn't like the sound of that.

Lily's voice shook with pity there, to which Sirius was both grateful for, and wanted to make some snide comment at her for. Thankfully she kept going loudly before he could act on either.

"Tactless as ever," Lily grumbled at him, ignoring her own increasing worry at those confirmed fears. Surely if this was a real problem though Sirius would be more concerned, he at least had a like for Hagrid even without knowing what all he'd done for Harry. This wasn't necessarily a death sentence if someone didn't come back from a mission on schedule...

"I think we need to have a refresher course on those talks about reassuring people Sirius," Remus groaned, as that had helped no one at any point it seemed.

"We haven't been," Harry said just a touch indignity, "you were the only one I'd asked."

"Well I know that now," Sirius rolled his eyes in exasperation, causing Harry to back down.

"And just why would you think that would cheer them up?" Lily began anxiously as she fought the compulsion to stick a muzzle on Sirius. "You were already spotted once, what makes you think it a good idea to have another go?"

"Stop being such a worry wart Lily," James scoffed at once. "He needs out of that place more, even if it is at sporadic times like Hogsmeade weekends."

"Where was this attitude last year?" Remus demanded uneasily, this conversation just kept getting worse with everything his last best friend said.

"Last year Sirius was on the run, getting all the air he needed, so I was just worried about him covering his tail," James scowled at Remus for the lack of backup. "Now I'm worried what he'll do if he doesn't get out more."

Sirius longed for the time where he could have basked in having a whole conversation about him, now he just looked miserable and didn't account for anyone, he just wanted to forget about the existence of that house and his whole damn future.

"I mean, I suppose so long as Kingsley is still pushing for Australia or something, whatever Malfoy said could be brushed off easily enough," Remus tried to say with some encouragement that fell flat to all worried parties.

"Then don't go near Malfoy," James scoffed. "Honestly, Padfoot knows every hole of that area better than the local cats."

"Doesn't make the risk any less," Lily sighed without too much of a fight, recognizing whatever Sirius wanted to do, he'd do it with or without anyone's support.

"You really are breaking my heart here pup," Sirius tried for a flippant tone while Harry eyed his godfather with great worry. Ever since he'd left that platform, Harry had an ever growing fear of the next time Sirius left that house, leaving his tongue paralyzed and unable to respond...

Sirius actually recoiled, suddenly looking ready to burst into tears any moment as he had concrete proof. Merlin's sake, he really had lost his mind if he thought even for a moment he'd been talking to James-

Lily had just huffed and rolled her eyes at the stupid comment, she didn't even seem to realize Sirius had taken it so personally while James kept his eyes firmly on his best mate now.

Remus reacted on instinct by smacking Sirius upside the head for that, muttering, "would you rather him be like you, not thinking before you speak."

Sirius hardly seemed to realize what had been spoken as he whispered back, "that hurt you know."

Remus wasn't sure if he meant the comment, or the blow, as he rolled his eyes and said, "I didn't damage anything important."

"All of me is important!" He shot back with almost a pout, managing to keep himself distracted at least for a few seconds while Lily finished.

Remus was looking from James to Sirius uneasily, as Lily looked up to indicate she was done and seemed to realize for the first time that had bothered the two, so Remus began ardently, "wonder if we should take a quick break again. I'm sure someone should check on the baby's dipper, and I-"

"Yeah, that's great Moony. Padfoot, can I borrow you for a moment," James snapped, not waiting for any preamble as he made his way for the stairs and Sirius followed reluctantly.

* This one gets under my skin out of confusion. Either Harry has completely forgotten the fact that he was the one who had to trick Malfoy into giving Dobby that sock, otherwise he could have just done it himself and set Dobby free if that was his intentions, or he really thought Hermione found a way around this law and it's just never addressed. This is a real problem with the narrative between two and five that is never brought up.

I know that's a really subjective number, considering by most math there would only be about 300, but JK has said there were actually almost a thousand. I personally more invasion somewhere in the middle, though I imagine the population slump from the war and other variables actually makes the number fluctuated between those two numbers throughout the years, so who really knows.

*** This moment genuinely annoys me for two reasons. The twins specifically say the purple half is the 'cure' pill for their works, and this is proven in the last chapter where they gave purple pills to the first years to wake them up, so they did indeed give the right pill. Problem two with this, is then, what do you mean you gave her the wrong pill? Either you color swapped a batch in which case you lot are far more idiotic than I thought for all your hard work doing this, or this is just some serious (shut up Sirius!) errors with the flowing work. Twice in one chapter man...


	15. THE HOGWART'S HIGH INQUISITOR

"Padfoot mate, you don't really think you think," he cut himself off and went crosseyed before trying again, "I mean that Harry is-" then he stopped again for the ludicrous statement couldn't even manage to pass his lips.

Sirius watched with some distant form of amusement as James struggled to find words, a concept in itself, as he ran his fingers hard through his hair and tried to find a way to answer. "What if I do? All those stories we've heard about what happens to those in Azkaban, what makes you think that didn't happen to me after twelve years? Turning into a dog could only have saved me so much-"

"Don't," James snapped, his eyes darkening by the second. "I can't stand thinking of you like that, it's never going to happen."

"It's already happening Prongs," Sirius whispered back. "What if we can't stop this, it's all supposed to happen in less than a year! People will start going missing, and then Dumbledore's going to come around and get you and Lily to go into hiding, and I'll do it again, I swear I will, I'll hunt down that rat bastard and-"

"Think what you're saying," James snapped, fighting hard not to knock him upside the head while he did. "Future tense mate, we'll find a way to stop this happening well before then, so stop acting like it's inevitable already. You're not going to turn into that, I refuse."

Sirius still couldn't seem to take his words to heart, gazing at a picture Lily had hung up on the wall of a forest that had branches swaying in the wind, an occasional critter flipping in and out of sight. It reminded him of the Forbidden Forest, where he'd had so many happy memories, and it scared him how tainted those already were, and kept reminding him it was only going to get worse. "It's my worst nightmare come to life, I don't know how but the universe did that to me. Made me go as mad as my folks, in a different way I'll grant but all the same, and then jailing me right back there."

"It's not going to happen," James repeated, and would keep doing so until it sunk through his thick head.

They met eyes, Sirius almost absently saying, "you have always been around to remind me of that," and then quickly flipped subjects before even the notion of this no longer existing could linger, "honestly though, I thought you were going to bring me up here to rib me for talking to Harry like that."

James snorted and rolled his eyes, forcing himself to relax as he seemed to think he'd accomplished something. "I'd be remissed if you didn't tell Harry he wasn't having enough fun in his life. I still think you should show up at Hogsmeade and show those three what we used to get up to, Harry needs more fun in his life and he's clearly not getting it from his friends."

Sirius bit at his lip as he realized Harry wasn't getting that from him either, he'd been far to consumed with his own pity party, but at James words, he was now at least holding out hope it would come true soon.

James watched as Sirius was already starting to fall back into wallowing, and he couldn't let that stand. Sirius was usually his inspiration to start all the madness they got up to, seeing him so low now truly was doing something to him he could hardly put into words, and he desperately hoped that the next time Sirius' name came up it would be in some form of his release back into a normal life already, he'd suffered long enough for it. For now he grasped his shoulder with a tight squeeze before actually managing his old laugh back and saying, "come on now, let's see what kind of mass destruction the school causes in rebellion against whatever that stupid comment of Percy's was. Dumbledore not in charge, pfft, Fudge couldn't do any such thing."

Sirius did at least smile as he followed him back for that, any talk of setting Umbridge in the area with the twins was bound to cause a laugh, which he was hoping to hear from soon. The methods she used on Harry weren't going to hold long.

Lily and Remus weren't quite as flippantly careless about Sirius' comment, but they held their tongues about it because it's not like their Sirius had, and they really were trying not to lash out at him for something he hadn't said yet.

Harry most of all wanted to persist on the subject, as he felt like he'd let Sirius down in some way, but when his godfather flopped down beside him with a normal smile in place Harry just couldn't bring himself to bring it all up again when James had clearly seemed to comfort him about it. So as James picked up the book and began, they were all feeling almost slightly hopeful again this was all going to somehow work out.

"Urgh, as if you don't get enough of that around the castle, now you've got closeups," James crinkled his nose in disgust.

"Why do I already have a bad feeling about whatever the hell that made up title is?" Remus sighed.

"You've got good instincts," Harry's eyes were already narrowed with dislike.

James struggled to understand even the first sentence! What did that mean, the Ministry had control over their school?

Lily had her lips very tightly pursed as her mind flew through the ramifications of that. Hogwarts had always been of its own body and under the guide of the current Headmaster. This had allowed for a lot of free will inside the school outside of Ministry influence which many considered a good thing, as it left the children to grow up and form their own opinions of what they thought were right and wrong. Now their own government was more than actively stepping in as more than just a substitute teacher role? Just what the hell was Umbridge going to have these students doing? Aside from torturing them!

James looked to his friends like he was hoping for some kind of clarification from them, but both seemed just as confounded by the idea.

"Did they have to post his title? I find that entirely unnecessary as of course his Junior would agree with him," Sirius scoffed.

"I just wish they hadn't said his last name, marks a bad light on all the Weasleys," Remus rolled his eyes for poor Arthur and his reaction to further seeing his son agreeing with all this.

"Then they should talk to the Headmaster, and deal with this in house as it's always been," Lily stated absently, still trying to wrap her head around how this abrupt change had just sprung up overnight and it was entirely allowed.

"Oh that's even better, they've been at this since the summer," James said in exasperation, already a spiel of comments he could imagine his parents saying if they'd heard about this.

"Let's put Percy in detention with her and see how long he holds that," Harry said grimly as he rubbed absently at the back of his hand.

"He'd have to be set up to be put in there, and even then I'll bet he could kiss her arse out of it," Sirius growled, perhaps even more darkly than he should have just for having to watch Harry do that.

"By not teaching them! Yeah, I'd say that's revolutionary!" Remus balked at the absurdity.

Lily had to swallow a bitter taint as she almost realized what a good idea that could have been coming from anyone else. Abysmal teachers like Lockhart and Snape wouldn't have been a problem then...but that's not what this job was really doing, and she knew it full well, so didn't bother speaking it.

"I do not believe that," James scoffed. "If my folks had heard the Ministry was weaseling around inside Hogwarts they'd have thrown a fit. They never have before and they're just suddenly doing it now after they've spent the summer campaigning what a mentally unstable person Dumbledore was? That dosen't seem the least bit suspicious it's all happening the same time?"

"Ah, well at least that support suddenly made sense," Remus scowled.

Remus suddenly felt such a sharp twist of fear in him he retched on the spot and felt lucky he didn't vomit. He'd never been afraid of attention before, unavoidable when you made friends with James and Sirius, but the fact that his name was actually being thrown out like that honestly made him question how he was even still alive. After all, the last werewolf that had ended up in the papers had a hole hunt formed around him-

Sirius gently cut off this train of thought by smacking Remus upside the head and saying, "knock it off Moony, if they haven't done anything to you before now they're not going to suddenly start just because the Ministry is pushing in. You're long gone, clearly not making a bid to come back, and Dumbledore's got you doing that shitty arse underground work that leaves you so far off the radar anyways it's a miracle if you'll even be reading this."

Remus almost found the comfort somewhere in there, at least his body stopped trying to throw up.

Harry was honestly curious enough to interrupt what this mysterious underground work was. He'd long since gathered it had something to do with Remus staying in contact with other werewolves, but he still longed for details he decided against asking even now because it was such a touchy subject for the poor guy.

"While I applaud them," Lily nodded sadly, "it's almost a backfire on them as well, for the same reason Tonks and Arthur haven't quit their post yet. They do more good holding their tongue and staying on the inside."

"That method ceases being useful when it's all you end up doing," James scowled, though at Harry for holding his tongue far too often.

Sirius gave a merry little applause for that bit at least, thankful that this had been put into the paper at all the way it was running lately.

James saw red as he realized four days had already been enough to put that mark into his skin. Years later and it was still there. None of them had the delusion this wasn't going to happen to Harry again, and he doubted he could read through it without screaming some more no matter how little good it would do.

"I immediately like where his thoughts went," Sirius pipped up at once as the same grin appeared, thinking of that foul toad trying to inspect someone like McGonagall and blissfully aware who was going to come up on top.

The others caught on as well, and now they were all grinning in anticipation of watching McGonagall have a thing or two to say to that pitiful excuse for a teacher.

"What are the odds she won't be inspecting any of the ones Harry's in?" Remus said without a trace of hope.

"Non existent," James said without looking up.

"I find it an actual miracle he didn't just flat give you a T," Sirius rolled his eyes.

Lily almost felt a twitch appear on her lips again at his alliterations, he'd always gotten a giggle out of her when he did this, but she forced herself not to react.

"I'm guessing he gave you an O after you cheated off of someone else's," James rolled his eyes.

"Why bother?" Remus asked curiously.

"I can already hear the lecture she'd give about how I should have tried harder or some nonsense," Harry sighed.

Lily frowned at him for that, wishing he would try harder in this class even if he did hate the teacher, but at least holding herself back.

"I commend you, considering at some point I'd have just chucked the cauldron in his face," James snorted.

"I don't actually believe that," Remus snorted, "I can already imagine her near the end of this crying every five seconds if she dosen't get all O's."

"Is she going to keep going with this?" James groaned as he eyed the pages with misery. He'd been starting this thinking of more Umbridge carnage, but instead he'd been suffering through some OWL memories he'd have rather forgotten.

"Err, dosen't P mean-"

"Poor, yeah," Sirius said with chipper, "only one letter off from acceptable, so really they're not wrong."

"I always thought it stood for Dunderhead," James grinned.

"Stop naming things after yourself James," Remus quipped.

"This is most likely going to be an ongoing topic until next year, when she'll move onto complaining about her NEWT grades two years too early," Sirius groaned.

James gasped wildly, and then frantically prodded the page with his wand as if insisting to find a flaw.

"What do you mean Hermione doesn't know all these by heart?" Sirius agreed mildly. "The way she was obsessing over them, even having done some pre exams last year, you'd really think she'd know that."

"I'm actually quite sure she only took note of what the top grade was and didn't care about the others," Remus rolled his eyes.

Causing all five of them to giggle.

"Why is that a recurring thing, it always makes me sad," Lily sighed.

"Someone needs to tell her she's getting a P for her sense of humor, see if she lightens up any then," James agreed.

Harry laughed unexpectedly, then looked around and realized that while they were smiling, he realized it was at his reaction, and he blinked in shock.

"Nope," Sirius grinned, "though I don't understand why they'd want to give you a letter grade that would make someone think, well that's better than B for Blast-Ended Skrewt."

"You're an idiot," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Whatever gets you through it love," Lily grinned as the thought had never crossed her mind Harry would do any such thing. Even while being at his breaking point he'd still been putting effort into his homework, there was just no way he'd do so poorly on all his exams if he just tried a little harder.

Causing them all to snort with laughter as they suddenly imagined the wonderful idea of if the twins had taken her class and the mayhem that could have been.

"Because that's the important part," James said grimly as his eyes flashed protectively to his son again, wondering if it was possible Umbridge's detentions could somehow get worse if she realized Harry wasn't going to take her message.

Lily felt an interesting struggle taking place in her mind. She'd disliked Trelawney from the instant she'd been introduced because of insisting her son was to die, which would set any mother on edge. Yet she hated Umbridge quantifiably worse for actually hurting her baby. She wasn't really sure what she wanted to see happen here, but she wouldn't deny she was listening just as curiously as the others.

"Can't deny I'm already intrigued," Remus said grudgingly. "Trelawney shouldn't have had much to do with her before now considering how rarely she leaves her own tower, which means her ire with this woman must come from something we haven't seen yet."

"Maybe just from students like Parvati and Lavender who might have talked about her," Sirius offered without much thought, but immediately corrected himself when he realized, "but they haven't exactly gone out of their way disliking Umbridge themselves yet either."

"I'm sure it's just the insult of her class being inspected," James snorted.

"They say dreams are where you live out your fantasies," Sirius snickered.

"Drowning, isn't it? The other two are nouns," Remus said absently.

"Nouns can be the subject," Lily shrugged, "it depends on verb usage and-"*

"Please, this is why I was grateful Hogwarts never subjected us to Muggle classes, don't start on things I don't care about," Sirius groaned.

Harry felt a sudden whack at the base of his skull for some unknown reason, absently reaching up and brushing at the back of his head as if to make sure it was still attached but ultimately ignoring the sensation.

Though it was getting harder by the moment as Umbridge's questions really were starting to dig something out of the base of his skull that was beginning to build up quite a bit of pressure...

Remus felt an odd smile flicker across his face as some old Greek myth came to mind about the Seer Cassandra who nobody believed truly was one, but he didn't point this out to the others for once as he was more invested hearing about this.

"Was the pause because she had to think about it and count that on the spot?" James mocked.

James was almost amused by this, as normally Trelawney spat out so many predictions in a lesson you couldn't shut the woman up. Now Umbridge was asking for one, and that was offensive?

"I think she made herself worse by doing that," Sirius sighed. "Should have just stuck with the first thing she said, then later and a lot more randomly spouted something at least generally more threatening than that generic mess."

Lily actually had to catch herself to stop from laughing. Even knowing Trelawney was a true Seer still didn't make this waffle intimidating in the least, but she despised Umbridge to agree with her on any level so she held it in.

"Yeah, there it is," James said tartly, least she could always fall back on that one, though how she managed to make that less believable every time was an actual achievement on some level.

"Urgh, having to listening to croaking all lesson, I'd rather live with a cicada," Sirius rubbed at his ears in thought.

"I'm not sure if that's ignorance or delusions," Remus sighed.

"So were there?" Lily asked.

"Don't know, never checked," Harry shrugged.

"Even if there weren't, I'm honestly wondering if she'd have just made you reread it from the start or something," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Man I wish I was more surprised, actually I'm just sad for the wasted time," James sighed.

"People get that a lot around her it seems," Sirius mused, he didn't always like Hermione either, but she never failed to impress him with her knowledge at least.

"That was already established," Lily cocked her head to the side as she tried to understand, "what was the goal of her doing this?"

James shushed her and read quickly to find out, if anyone could find a way to push Umbridge's buttons and make something interesting happen in that class, he'd bet on Hermione.

"She is sitting right next to you when she started this," Remus rolled his eyes, "don't tell me she really thinks you'd stay out of it."

"She simply asked a question of what she was supposed to do now she's done with the work," Sirius tried for an innocent tone, ineffective as he wasn't likely to receive an answer for that anymore than Hermione.

"Every bit of that was the most ludicrous thing I've yet heard her say," Remus said faintly.

"She read the whole book, how can she still try to make that claim!" Lily demanded.

"I'm beginning to wonder if there's something conceded about her," James said deadpan.

"I'm actually wondering how many of the students knew that at the end of the year anyways," Remus suddenly blinked in surprise.

"Not the point," Harry grumbled.

Lily made a guttural, maddening noise of frustration for Harry suffering through that all over again, and she vented on the only person available. "Harry James, stop antagonizing her! It's clearly done you no good, after multiple people have warned you to stop, and you are suffering more consequences than doing any good!"

Harry flushed with anger for a moment, considered snapping back he was doing more good than anyone else was even bothering to try, but then considered the fact that snapping at her would do absolutely no good. His mother was simply angry with the situation and he did not want to start yelling at them like he had been his friends in the past, so he simply held his tongue and nodded absently, also failing to mention whatever he did he couldn't go back and stop himself from doing in here now could he.

"Who takes away house points after you find out someone has detention?" James demanded in outrage. "What's McGonagall playing at, he's already suffering enough for this!"

"I guess she did warn him not to continue messing with her," Remus sighed, "this is her way of punishing him for disobeying her as well."

"That did not make this feel better," Sirius scowled.

"The worst part is she doesn't even know what's going on in those detentions," Lily groaned miserably, just begging for the sharp eyed woman to spot Harry's hand and raise hell for it any day now.

"I do love how she says confine shouting at Harry, not stop it," Sirius muttered.

"Maybe she wouldn't if she knew that part," James seethed.

"Are we really the only ones insisting on how dumb it is you haven't mentioned this," Lily demanded. "What about Hermione?"

"Still haven't told her yet either," Harry muttered as he shifted uneasily in his seat, still wishing this would stop being mentioned all together.

"So she does know?" Remus yelped at this glossed over development.

"I guess Ron did tell her at some point," Harry blinked in surprise, he'd been too angry to realize what he was saying to whom at the time. "Honestly I'm grateful she didn't give me another go to Dumbledore speech, so I'm grateful I wasn't around when she did find out."

"Hermione was the one who started the last two fights!" Sirius couldn't help but defend. "Harry more than likely would have sat in the back of the class and not said a word if it wasn't for her."

"You can't blame Harry's action on what Hermione decides to do," Lily scolded.

"Doesn't help one of his mates isn't trying to fix this problem either," Remus shrugged.

James actually began wriggling in place in sudden excitement. If he'd put money on anyone giving that toad a run for her galleons it would be McGonagall, there was no way she could push her around like she just had to Trelawney.

"And that was with the minimal effort," James applauded, while Lily rolled her eyes at him even if she did agree.

"What'd he do?" James demanded on the same breath as he'd finished.

"He was trying to place it on Parvati's shoulder," Harry shrugged.

"Less inventive than I was hoping," Remus sighed.

James made a little squee noise when he was done with that response while Sirius was already full blown laughing, he knew McGonagall was his favorite teacher for a reason!

Harry and Remus shared a triumphant smile while Lily said impatiently, "James if you don't keep going, I will," though her eyes were sparkling with their own amusement for their old head of house.

James clutched the book to him protectively as he kept going with glee.

James couldn't do it though, he immediately burst out laughing again, and this time Lily couldn't deny joining in. This was hardly the fiery pit they wanted to toss Umbridge into for what she'd done to Harry, but even seeing someone hold their own against her in this way was the most satisfying thing that had happened so far!

"I would pay anything to get my hands on those notes," Sirius' grin was slipping past amusement right into evil. "See just what her version of, I need a burn healing charm looks like."

"Technically McGonagall hasn't gained a detention yet, so she's still doing better than you," Sirius smirked even as he was leaning forward eagerly to hear more of this.

"It is indeed a good mark he's already got the larger portion of the body by the end of the first day," James agreed absently, his eyes still eagerly hoping for more between Umbridge and McGonagall.

"She really shouldn't act so thrilled, sets a bad impression," Remus snorted.

"Favorite teacher," James repeated warmly, hoping that would leave some kind of impact on Harry in Umbridge's next class. He wasn't the only one defining Umbridge.

"I don't think anyone's yet called him that," Sirius' face crinkled as that registered.

"Does sound kind of weird, even if it is appropriate," Remus agreed.

"He's already been doing that, surely he can't do even worse damage," Lily said with unease even she didn't believe.

Remus couldn't help but wince for that, thinking that was far more likely luck depending on the questions she was asking.

"That's she's the only one being treated like scum? Can't imagine why that would be," Sirius snorted.

"I'm sure that's a look," James snorted, his liking for Grubbly-Plank going up somewhat. Sure she was having to stand in for Hagrid, but at least she wasn't going behind his back and trying to rub up to Umbridge, he could respect that.

"At his own stupidity," James emphasized. "Everyone seems to skip that bit!"

"Oh, thank you Harry," James groaned, that hadn't been what he meant at all.

Harry shrugged without remorse.

"What was that one even for?" Lily all but screeched. "Doesn't she still have to give a reason!"

Baby Harry began squirming in unease underneath his toy so she forced herself not to keep going while James pushed on, mostly because the answer was no, that woman didn't have to give a reason to anyone about anything she did. It was becoming quite clear that was the scariest part of all to look forward to.

"That would still cause enough of a stir in the community for it to be relevant and absolutely worth it," James tried to keep his voice even as he explained to Harry. "McGonagall's tough as they come, even if she did have to leave for a time she'd be right back the next day because Dumbledore would never let that stand, and he'd have support from those realizing how ludicrous this all is getting."

"Please tell me you've been seeing reports in the Daily Prophet about more people saying what a problem this is," Lily agreed.

Harry just shrugged though, Hermione only passed along very certain things, and she hadn't said anything about this. If the wider wizarding world did care about what was going on, he wasn't hearing about it.

"Tie her to the Whomping Willow?" Sirius suggested at once.

"Transfigure her into a cat and introduce her to Fang?" James smirked.

"Introduce her to the Mermaids of the Black Lake," Remus said just a touch bitterly.

"See how long she could survive in the Forbidden Forest," Harry envisioned the fun.

"Poison?" Lily couldn't seem to stop herself taking in much to all the boys amusement.

"Ha!" Lily pumped a fist in triumph, "two against you lot!"

"That's fair," Sirius miraculously gave in.

"Can it at least be a slow acting one?" James contended.

"I can work that," Lily agreed.

"Well I mean, she's not wrong," Remus snorted.

"Yet I don't really see how that's so different from your first two years either," Sirius sighed.

"At least until the end of the year," Lily still looked for that bright spot.

"Should I be worried that's how this is starting?" James looked bemused as he kept going.

"That's really not that farfetched an idea," Remus shrugged, "we had to do it a few years as well. Our teachers never got to the level of trying to kill us mind you, but they weren't all stellar either."

"I don't know, remember Novak? Considering how many spells he used backfired on himself, I think at some point that counts as attempted murder when he still encouraged us to trust him," Lily shrugged.

"Hang on," Sirius mimed cleaning out his ears, "alright read that bit again."

James ignored him.

"She had yet to say otherwise," Harry rubbed at his ear at all her remembered lectures.

Harry looked honestly bemused Hermione had taken his words to heart like that, no matter how much he still vouched for them being true.

"Just like you did at the end of last year," James agreed, "that seemed to help you out loads, even with a competent if murderous teacher."

"Naw, you're the first teacher he thought of Moony," Sirius chuckled.

"Shut up Padfoot," Remus said around a smile.

"Not with that Umbridge woman about anyways," Lily said grimly, as it had honestly been a good idea for a moment for Dumbledore to summon him to the castle at his random choosing, and just incidentally running into Harry and his friends, for a few hours, no one in the school would really question that too much if it had worked out that way. That pink frosted lump of dragon dung though would put a wrench into anything like that.

Harry looked at his dad in bewilderment, before looking at the other three who all looked just as surprised at the answer as him to his relief.

"Honestly, for a moment there I thought she was leading up to herself," James snorted.

"I mean, I suppose she's not got the wrong idea," Lily pulled gently on a strand of hair as she thought about it, "but no offense love, I haven't really seen you with the patience yet to be teaching anyone much."

"Ron was better at teaching you chess than you were explaining how a phone worked," Sirius snorted in agreement.

"Oh stop picking on him," Remus scolded, though Harry hardly looked offended, he still had a politely puzzled expression on his face like he was still nursing the idea and had hardly heard them. "I don't find it a bad idea at all, Harry was the only thirteen year old I've ever seen to manage a Patronus, even you two hadn't managed that until fifth year to find out what you were going to turn into only a few months later. If Harry could master that, I'm sure passing that knowledge along wouldn't be much of a challenge."

"There's a difference between being a good student and being as good a teacher," Sirius shrugged, but he backed down altogether as Harry was starting to look a little hurt they were still giggling more than anything at the idea.

James kept himself going in hopes Hermione would come to some conclusion this should be more a group effort between the three than Harry starting secret lessons to teach these two anything.

"Really Harry, you apparently spent all summer complaining about this bit, but you need this part explained," James rolled his eyes.

"I really am loving the reverse of this conversation," Sirius gave a forced smile. "How are you the one saying you shouldn't get credit for doing this now, when it was you shouting at them you did all this single handedly to them at that house?"

Harry was scarlet by now, both from remembered shock of his friends throwing this at him, and how true that comment was that put on the spot he still didn't want to admit all the things he'd done no matter how angry he'd been he'd felt ignored.

"Can't have it both ways," Lily told him gently as she seemed to read his mind.

"Actually neither am I," James frowned lightly from the book to Harry now. "At most they're still pulling your leg, what's the anger for?"

Harry brushed at his scar without comment, a deep look in his eyes that shot a thrill of fear through James instantly promising him he actually didn't want to know the answer, so he quickly moved on.

Remus let out a low whistle of surprise as he told Harry, "when you get angry, you really ramp yourself right to the top at once."

"Harry doesn't do anything half way," Sirius said halfheartedly, Harry leaning back into the couch looking miserable he'd been caught shouting at them again, and they hadn't done anything even remotely close to deserving it this time.

James had winced at every blow Harry dealt his friends, of all the pain and fear his son had suffered without anyone there to help, how even hearing it first hand hadn't quite left them with the reality Harry had lived through. To them it was all in a distant future, something they hoped never had to happen to him and so without underplaying the events happening they kept pushing past these terrible moments because it would ultimately help him to remember them just to find a way he'd never have to live through them. Most of all, James wanted more than anything for Harry never to have to witness what had happened in that graveyard, to Cedric.

Harry was aware, and very grateful no one had snapped at him for this in here. He distantly saw himself doing these things, pushed into this uncontrollable anger from something he didn't understand, but one truth stood out his friends would never insinuate any such thing, so he was grateful for the silence ringing in here.

"Well there's a distraction if ever there was one," Sirius blinked slowly to refocus off of Harry's anger, how everything he'd said had been all too real.

Lily opened her mouth, wanting to say something in comfort as well as push for a change of subject, but Harry was still looking miserable and rubbing hard at his scar again, so she was afraid to push him while he was too vulnerable.

"Wonder how she got hold of that," Sirius happily shot off, as always just looking for something to say in the awkward silence.

"She's too proud asking the house-elves for a batch," Remus played along, "I more imagine she might have asked Madam Pomfrey for some, given a vague reason as to why she wanted it."

"I'll buy that," Sirius said, looking hopefully at Harry like he was hoping for confirmation, but even if he had ever bothered to ask Harry spoke nothing for or against the idea.

Harry twitched harder than ever in his seat, his eyes swimming with pain as he yearned to understand how it all fit together, and terrified of learning the answer.

HPHPHPHPHP

I probably came off pretty anti government in this chapter, and I swear I'm not actually trying to wipe up a rebellion and start an anarchy, I just always found it really extreme that clearly since it's conception Hogwarts seemed to have stood as it's own body, but suddenly the government were stepping in and causing a ton of reforms, and the public seems generally okay with this? Of course the Daily Prophet likely didn't post more outrage than a couple people quitting, I don't even know how it would have been put into the narrative, I'd just have liked to see more people be confused and angry about this sudden regime change going on inside the most popular wizarding school in Britain.

*I was actually never very good at English, I have no clue what the actual answer was, thank you for nothing four years of high school.

**I pointed this out in the last book, but this is now a blatant mismatch of the house tables. Last time it was the Hufflepuffs on their other side as Harry had to walk past them, this time it's Ravenclaws? Someone must have been right in saying it does switch up on a regular basis.


	16. IN THE HOG'S HEAD

James gave the book an easy toss to Sirius, who caught it while still eying Harry, waiting for some kind of que from him to say he wanted to keep going and wasn't lost in thought. He came out of his reverie by gazing at them, and then plastering a smile in place as he demanded, "was it really so preposterous I could be a teacher?"

"Did I not make it clear how painful to my legacy it would be for someone of my last name to hold any such position!" James said dramtacilly.

"James, he wasn't awake for that part," Lily reminded him.

"Oh yeah," he thought back.

Sirius quickly said though, "hey, if you end up being the new DADA teacher and break that stupid curse, more power to you pup! I'll be happy to hear it, just, you know, it'll be a shock is all. You've yet to show any kind of want for the thing."

"We were just as surprised as you," Lily agreed, "but if it's something you think you'll enjoy doing for your friends, I know it'll be fun to hear."

Harry beamed now, thoroughly distracted and eagerly waving Sirius on as he thought to himself they just might enjoy these next few months of his school, for the first time in this book it seemed hoping he was going to enjoy this feeling he was getting.

"That's got to be some kind of record for her, I was under the impression she always spoke of what was on her mind." James chuckled.

"Have you forgotten her third year, she did a pretty good job of avoiding them and not talking about things when she sets her mind to it," Remus shrugged.

Sirius tensed with disgust, his lip curling as he glanced again at those words upon Harry. Though faded like an old scar, he truly did wonder how long he'd suffered to gain them this level of permanence. He did not see the Umbridge situation getting better anytime soon, so he dared not even ask if Harry had to live through the problem again.

"She really does do that a lot," James rolled his eyes, "what's she always trying to say her and Ron instead of just her for."

"Keeping his attention I suppose," Remus shrugged.

Lily hummed at the idea before nodding to herself and saying, "you really do seemed to have taken a shine to this then."

"I like the idea of helping my friends out like this," Harry agreed, a small smile still in place, "though I still can't wrap my head around the idea of teaching Hermione anything she dosen't know."

"Same reason she attends classes instead of thinking she can learn better from her books," Remus shrugged, "she has acknowledged she's not the smartest person ever, to those who deserve it."

"A feat I can not comprehend," Sirius deadpanned.

"That was almost sad," Lily frowned, "he really shouldn't be that scared to say his opinion around you-" she cut herself off when she saw how depressed Harry was at the reminder his best friend had been so tiptoeing around him of late just so Harry wouldn't randomly start shouting at him.

"Because that was a relevant part of that statement," Sirius snorted.

Harry had to fight hard against the urge to put his face in his hands in shame, that he'd been going off on his friends so much of late that Hermione had to say that at all over some stupid little thing. What was wrong with him lately?

James made a pfft noise straight away, while Sirius rolled his eyes and immediately began ticking off, "the Weasley's already account for four, than that Luna girl, that Ernie prat, I am positive there are even more, oh that stalker kid Colin, um I'll bet his brother don't remember his name off the top of me head, I'll bet Cho would even ask for private lessons-"

Harry picked up a pillow and tried to press it against Sirius' face, the two wrestling this way for a moment before Sirius finally won by ducking away and smoothing his hair back, telling Harry wickledy, "didn't hear a denial on your part for those," then immediately began reading loudly before Harry was too tempted to start again.

"Everybody's always interested in what I have to say," Sirius smirked.

"Not always," Harry grumbled, ignoring his twitching smile for that recurring joke.

"Oh really? I thought she'd let you use her office and everything?" Remus chuckled in agreement.

Now it was Sirius' turn to scowl at Harry. Despite his deep set worry for his inevitable future mindset, he actually had been offended by Harry's lack of faith in him doing his part to keep his own arse covered, happily telling him as much, "first of all, exactly how stupid do you think I am? Hogsmeade is my home turf-"

"I just-" Harry tried to defend, but Sirius waved him down with a roll of his eyes, though his tone hardly lightened, "yeah, yeah, you're worried about me, but can I get just a little credit I know what I'm doing?"

Harry gazed at him with nothing but worry, there wasn't a trace of him showing he thought for even a second Sirius' words had given him comfort, and for a moment Sirius' cockyness started to ebb and he was getting worried just what had Harry so adamant about this, but he brushed that off and rolled his eyes, turning back to the book and just hoping he'd prove to his godson this was unnecessary.

Sirius gazed pitifully at that, looking hopefully at Harry to see if his best friend stating his exact problem had gotten through to Harry at all, but if anything it made his face draw tighter with worry. At least Harry grasped his problem, even if he still wasn't ready to concede there had to be a solution.

"Because that was the important part of that statement," James scowled hatefully for Hermiones priorities.

"She's only said that three times and now she can scold him for not saying it?" Sirius scoffed.

"She was on a good track there for a moment," Remus said forlornly, still bitter that no one, especially not himself, had done anything to get Sirius' name clear before the Pettigrew scandal had been revealed.

"That last bit wasn't relevant though, considering no one knows about the Dark Mark," Lily sighed.

Sirius grumbled something that was as close to acknowledging this to be true as was going to happen.

"I should feel privileged I take up so much of your time," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Hermione is a magic unto herself," Lily said wistfully, wishing she could ask that girl for her study habits as even out of school Lily still felt bogged down at work.

"Important distinctions she might have to teach Harry," James snickered in remembrance.

"It would be a easier to check against the one's who couldn't go," James snorted.

"I think Filch does it this way to purposely annoy us," Remus reminded.

"Finally some acknowledgement I can be happy about," Sirius smirked, though there was a sour edge to it.

"Obviously it was because he was trying out a new-" Remus elbowed Sirius before he could continue with the dumb joke.

"I don't care how pretty Cho is, I find it really hard to believe that experience skipped your mind," James shook his head.

Harry wanted to chuckle as that look of confusion crossed them again as well at the reminder, but the laughter died before it could even get started. Still, he had no more clue than them what the whole instance had been about, and he had no want to make his head burst from this tiny detail.

"But that would have made it perfect," James blinked in confusion of Hermione's logic. "You could get together and be at a perfectly normal volume and still not be overheard."

"I can see her idea though," Remus said fairly, "out of the way where no one goes, so even if some passerby had passed and heard a snippet, well this just erased that problem all together."

"Still, the cover of a crowd beats how suspicious that will look," Sirius shrugged.

Harry felt his nose crinkling in distaste as he remembered the smell, helping to distract him from remembering why goats should mean something in particular about the barkeep he remembered seeing.

"Really gives the place its own feel," Remus rolled his eyes.

Harry frowned as the image back played, like he was sure his mind should linger on this image for a moment longer in recognition of something, but that was ridiculous, how could he begin to know anything about some random man under a veil, err, woman.

Harry's skin twitched even harder at staring at her even longer in his past, yes he was quite sure he was right to think that was-

The thought was gone as he sighed, knowing without a doubt that hadn't been the answer, and now utterly confused what he'd been trying to think of at all.

"What on Earth could you be speaking of?" Sirius cast the most innocent and mischievous gray eyes any person could have. "Surely what you're about to discuss is covered in Slinkards book."

Harry felt that spike of unease return, though he was now convinced he'd mistaken the veiled person for this barman as the person he should be having some vague connection with- but Sirius kept reading, and Harry had no hope of keeping such a flimsy train of thought that only increased the pain always present right behind his eyes when he tried to remember something.

"And?" Remus asked with a little smile.

"Please don't tell me-" Lily began with an honestly amused smile at the three of them.

"We would never try such a thing," James said at once, while Sirius didn't even bother and said, "yeah, but he still turned us down."

Harry felt a frown appearing on his face, as for some reason he didn't like Hermione's use of the phrase 'a couple'.

"I thought Hermione had said Lavender and Parvati didn't think much of your story," Lily said story with pure acid.

Harry shrugged without comment, he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer of what had changed their mind.

"So the important people are there then," James smirked at Harry's suddenly red tinged face.

"Whoa, what's Dennis doing there? He's two years below Colin, and he's a year below Harry. That puts him at a second year," Remus counted off.

"The things you remember," Sirius rolled his eyes for this detail being spotted.

"I am positive Fred and George told him how to get into Honeydukes the moment the younger Creevey made the desire of wanting to come," James grinned, "they'd help along anyone who wanted to hear this I'm sure."

Harry paused, cocked his head to the side and seemingly flabbergasted he hadn't burst this question out sooner, "how do the tunnels in and out of Hogwarts work?"

"What do you mean?" Remus asked. "They extend to fit someone, we mentioned that. What's that got to do with this?"

"I just realized," Harry shook his head as he explained, "that when Hermione and I first went in, we had to crouch, but when we were all coming back, no one was and in fact it was a lot bigger." He hated having to bring up that time, of such a moment where their entire life had been flipped upside down, so maybe it was best he'd waited.

James' eyes flipped to a near ghostly hazel as he clearly recalled the same setting, but he still answered, "it just enlarges to the capacity needed for the occasion. You just needed to get there in a hurry the whole time, it was only that size. You needed three people to fit in side by side, at least two of them adults, it compensated for that. Magic really does have a mind of its own." He finished with a mutter.

Harry swallowed hard, now regretting bringing it up altogether as he still hated to see his dad acting like this because of something from his past, and so let the matter go entirely.*

Harry frowned, as something of those four together really struck a nerve in him, but surely he was being ridiculous and Ginny just hadn't wanted to come in with her big brothers so had chosen a random group of students or some such to sit with...

"I would just like to take a moment to applaud all of them showing up at once like that," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"That many people are never that punctual," Remus agreed, "I imagine the houses all came together and waited outside in hopes others would show, and the congregation grew on the outside until they realized no one else was coming, then most likely the twins told them all to get a move on inside."

"You lot think way too much about things," Lily giggled.

"I think I counted twenty five total," Sirius said cheerfully, "that falls under a couple."

"A couple is two!" Harry protested.

"Maybe even Ron and Hermione didn't know," James said with faint amusement, "and word spread a bit."

"That didn't make me feel better," he protested, but was ignored by Sirius continuing.

"You cheated," Remus accused at once, "you skipped down and read that number, not kept a count."

Sirius kept reading as if he hadn't heard that too.

"'S hardly very good customer management," James chuckled at this display.

"I really can't imagine what his problem is," Lily agreed a bit more curiously, though they were likely to never get the answer other than a grumpy old man.

"Honestly, public speaking is an actual form of torture," Remus agreed, "just what did Hermione get you into?"

"That's not an encouraging start to something that shouldn't particularly be going on," Lily murmured with discomfort, as a scorned girl could cause problems, but Harry had never done anything to this one, so she had no clue where this was coming from enough to be worried about it.

Sirius snickered a bit as he read that, it was very true insulting others had a way of bolstering one's self.

The four of them had rather amused smiles on their faces. It was rare indeed to find individuals who had not inherited the panicky trait of not being able to hear the Voldemort's name as if a curse had not been set upon them, but they'd certainly never tried it on a full group before, and the range of reactions amused the mind.

"Does he want a film of the event?" Lily snapped.

"I'd be happy to let him play the role of Malfoy already," James grumbled in agreement of this little comment that was unneeded in their opinion, why be there if you didn't believe it?

"He started it with that tone," Sirius snapped.

Lily frowned as that last name struck a chord as Alice's maiden name, wondering if this was some relative of hers that had lived past her friends life. Such little things like a name kept managing to strike her the hardest.

"And what right is that?" Remus demanded. "Dumbledore's given the account, if that isn't good enough for him I hope the door hits him on the way out."

Lily groaned miserably that's all her son ever seemed to be, a spectacle. Still, she tried to at least remember that wasn't all of them, perhaps just the unnamed children Harry had never met properly, he must have more people on his side like Neville.

"An impressive skill," Sirius muttered absently while he flipped the page.

"And there it is!" James sneered. "The details, because everyone wants to know what the body looks like until they get a peek."

The haunted look on his and all of their faces convinced Harry without a word he would not be asking for details of them anymore than he'd wanted to be asked that day in the Hog's Head.

Sirius winced in disgust having to say that, but gazed sadly at Harry as he disagreed, "I don't believe that, and neither do you. She was just trying to help."

Harry merely rubbed at his scar in answer, his lip trembling with words he could not speak. It became clearer every day he had refreshed of this school year, every minute he learned something more of his fifth year, and yet with every flip of the page he knew more with every word he did not want the answer to what problem revolved around his scar, that had him thinking such things about his friends on such a regular basis.

"Harry," Lily cracked an honest grin finally now that the immediate tension began to dissipate. "That's the normal term for what animal your patronus takes."

"I associated the word with the first person who I heard say it," he shrugged without much defense.

They all shared a surprised look at that though, before Remus began humming 'It's a Small World After All'. Sirius ignored him, mostly because he didn't recognize the tune.

"How could he not know that?" James snorted. "He commentates on the Quidditch matches, he'd have seen it clear as Remus that day."

"Professor Lupin never said he saw the animal," Harry thought back, "just complimented what it did. Maybe it really hadn't taken shape yet and was just large and powerful. I don't really think it took the stag until, err, later."

That caught all of their attention, wondering why Harry kept noticing such a thing, but Harry himself hardly paid it much mind this time, now thinking back on memories he'd rather forget again.

"You're missing out on the best face then," Sirius pouted he couldn't have a few more fun pokes at Harry for his crush, who was now just as determinedly not looking at his godfather.

"Close enough," Remus chuckled.

Sirius cracked an evil grin and at once turned to say something else to Harry, who hissed back, "I'll make you do a somersault if you don't keep going."

"You're getting more violent by the day," Sirius approved as he did indeed turned away, though hardly looking very concerned at the threat.

"I'm sure you can throw in a few hints of how hard pressed it was doing those things while telling them it wasn't a big deal," Remus chuckled.

"But that's exactly what you're doing," James snorted.

Harry shrugged and still muttered how true it was none of that had been all on him. He was in turn ignored by the others, who were never not impressed Harry had reached his current age.

"I had nothing to do with that," Sirius batted his eyes innocently, and Harry wasn't so against him he didn't chuckle as always.

"Thank you Ron," Lily nodded, some people needed a good tongue sticking charm now and again.

"That's not remotely what he said," Remus frowned.

Sirius gave a fantastic snort while James nodded, clearly liking to the idea at once if only in his imagination.

"No, no," Remus pouted, "some things need to be lingered on."

"This isn't one of them," Lily couldn't stop a chuckle as she tried to convince Sirius of this.

"That's a terrible idea," Sirius gave a wolfish grin.

"He's leaving himself open to attack from the other," James mimicked the look.

"Priorities."

No one could tell how much sarcasm James was saying that with, or if indeed there was any to be held.

"He has been rather quiet from what I remember of his nature," Remus randomly agreed.

"It really is a moment where you stop and evaluate how stupid the mind can get," Sirius agreed.

"Now this I want to hear," James smiled openly, though there was a small hint of something else in there Harry couldn't identify.

"Now those I've heard of," Remus said before Sirius could ask. "Old Scottish legend if I remember correctly, though it was never proved as more than that."

"Apparently, Luna thinks otherwise," Sirius shook his head with an indulgent smile, Harry unsurprised but still confused he had that same small tick to his mouth his father had.

"She really can't be so naive to think we've discovered everything there is to be?" Lily sighed for Hermione starting this fight.

James let out an impressed whistle for Luna giving such a sharp return, maybe he had her pegged wrong as just some girl with fantasy ideas. She clearly had a spunk to her.

"This seems to be a full blown Weasley trait of good imitations," Sirius grinned at this even small resemblance to his own acts.

"You didn't discuss this before you showed up with the idea?" James chuckled.

"Have you heard us do any such thing?" Harry shrugged, his mind currently vexed on the issue, though he had a funny feeling he'd like the end results of this.

Sirius offered, "Why not the Chamber of Secrets?"

"Um, the little problem that there's a basilisk corpse down there," Harry told him like the thought was obvious.

"I don't know," Sirius shrugged, " I think it kind of sets the mood."

"Plus," Remus agreed, "only you can open it, what with the Parselmouth door and all."

Harry shook his head furiously and said, "How would we get back up that giant slide? Plus, can't the eyes still kill you? Should we really be playing with that?"

"You're turning into your mother," Sirius told him, "and being a killjoy."

"Hey!" Lily and Harry both snapped, both giving Sirius the stank eye for his innocent joke.

James personally didn't want to think about Harry back down there again for any reason, he'd already had a few vivid nightmares about that place, and so instead offered, "they might be able to use the Shrieking Shack."

"Not sure if that's big enough," Remus disagreed, "certainly not for the lot of them at once."

The boys remained stumped, and rather miffed they were coming up short with this idea.

Sirius begrudgingly turned back to the pages, though he knew whichever student offered up something they hadn't thought of would still irk him.

Sirius chuckled out the answer before anyone could respond.

"Not secure enough," Remus dissed, "Umbridge could walk right in on that, which means you'd need a guard and all sorts of get away plans, that's pretty elaborate and I'm not sure how long term it would work for such a huge group."

"You've half your goal accomplished at least," Lily praised.

Harry felt an odd smile light his face for some reason, though he had no clue as this seemed innocent enough and surely Hermione was still just nervous with so many people looking at her.

"It's a test, clever girl," Remus chuckled, "I'd be sure not to pass along when the next meeting is to anyone who doesn't sign it."-

"If that's really what he was anxious about that I'm a little insulted for Hermione," Lily rolled her eyes. "She was the one who just said to keep this business quiet."

"Least it got the loudmouth to agree," James smiled, "between him and the twins, that should convince the lot of them there's no harm in agreeing to this."

Harry felt a slight giggle escape him he had no name for, though he was confident it wasn't too far off the mark.

"Well that was just rude," Sirius pouted, his smile widening when he saw Harry looked a bit disappointed as well that more people hadn't stuck around to talk to him. "Her friend clearly isn't a fan of you, why bring along that one?"

"Same reason you brought me along that time you asked out Christine Palish. You didn't actually want her to say yes, you just wanted me there as backup in case she said no," Remus rolled his eyes.

Sirius just nodded in agreement, he still regretted taking his fellow Quidditch player up on that dare of asking out the girl with the then seventh year boyfriend, but Moony was always good backup, and the end results of the escapade had been worth it.

"It was good of her to give him a chance," Lily said grudgingly.

"But this proved to me he's not worth keeping in this group, he's too unpredictable," James agreed suspiciously.

Harry jolted so hard he looked like someone had literally yanked on his leg as he snapped, "she what?"

All of them couldn't help chuckling at such a vivid reaction, though Harry still looked more annoyed like they imagined Ron would be at having this news dumped on them. Harry had been fidgeting with his hands so much of late, none of them noticed the little twist he gave to the gold ring on his finger.

"Please tell me Hermione timed it like that," Remus muttered to himself, causing Sirius to snicker harder as he kept going.

"I do adore how casual she is about all this," Lily's shoulders were still shaking.

"Poor Ron, and Harry," James kept smiling as well at the peeved look on his son's face that hadn't lessened much as the news sank in. James was once again grateful he nor any of his friends had younger sisters. One little brother amongst them had caused enough drama in their group.

"I would not answer that," Remus said at once.

Sirius rolled his eyes at this display even if he kept laughing more loudly with every line that Harry's pout kept increasing. Harry had known he had a bad feeling about him, yet it hadn't been very dominant at the time, what had changed?

"Did he expect her to live on that crush forever?" James asked with honest interest.

"I'm starting to wonder if he was even hoping for it," Remus grinned, "least Ron knows Harry, may not be such a big deal to him."

"Nah, Ron knew Harry would never reciprocate so his baby sister would always be far away from any romance," Sirius snorted.

Harry forced himself to remain quiet and out of this conversation, now playing with his ring more than ever as something pressed heavily on his mind for this topic. Lily noticed him doing this, but she thought it was merely the idea of his wife's commentary on this and still realized she had not an actual clue of who the girl could be.

The lot of them giggled at that, thinking that's what had kept him so off this topic now, but Harry was surprised such a thing hadn't crossed his mind since Hermione had brought this up, so Harry was left more confused than ever what was going on.

"It took you quite some time to realize this," James chuckled.

"Well I'm sorry if those kinds of details don't keep my attention," Harry managed an eye roll and a friendly smile, though for some reason he'd noted every time Ginny had spoken to him while revisiting these memories...

"Oh yes, he's calm as a hippogriff on fire," Sirius snorted.

"Oh I'm sure you weren't that bad," Remus tried for sympathy, failing as spectacularly as Sirius' disbelieving snort. If Harry was anything like he was in here, that had been a lost cause on the kids part.

Sirius was still chuckling happily as he passed Harry the book.

HPHPHPHPHP

I have discovered two things about kittens. They think a person typing means it's playtime and you have to get creative while they bat at your fingers, and they like to sleep on the crook of your neck, just as distracting but so infinitely cute.

* I've actually been sitting on this one for ages, and yeah I really did want to bring it up in that moment in three, but it just never felt right considering everything else that was going on. So I tacked it in here rather awkwardly instead, better to have a random pop up question than ruin tension, so here it will sit.


	17. EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR

Thank you, thank you all for your constant love, reviews, and support of this! I always thank those with an account, but I still can't say thank you enough to guest reviewers who are just as consistent and loving!

HPHPHPHPHP

Harry felt as if it had been ages that he'd taken the book so lightheartedly. His godfather still weighed heavily on his mind, he could not erase the fear that their last argument wasn't going to be the end of things and Harry still worried deeply for the end results of that, but finally something was going right in school! He couldn't wait to learn what all became of that!

Sirius chuckled as he told Harry, "you manage to say that with such perfect exasperation."

"It never fails to boggle the mind," Harry grinned.

"Well compared to her third year, I imagine even seventh won't feel as bad as taking all the classes at once," Lily shrugged.

"Is that all you needed?" James grinned in relief his son was finally starting to sound and clearly feel more normal again. "Didn't the Order help with that."

"I wasn't actually doing anything of use on that front," Harry shrugged, "knowing someone's out there helping and my actually helping are two very different things for me."

No one argued that point, they all felt the same.

"Which bit was your favorite part again?" Sirius smirked, to which Harry ignored him.

"I still want to see someone hung for that, it truly sounds like yet more torture for you this year," Remus said in disgust.

"They're still hanging those up! I thought Hermione would have a cow on them if she saw?" Lily yelped in concern for the twins health.

"This one wasn't nearly so big or as flamboyant," Harry shrugged, "she may not have even noticed it a second time." It was truly depressing that the second Harry had locked in on this new thing, his face had gone right back to that unhappy, sour look he'd carried through most of this book.

Harry looked up, surprised no one had interrupted him during that to state their disgust, and found four stunned stupid faces. James even had his mouth hanging open in shock.

"That is the most ridiculous thing, I have ever heard, in my life," Remus struggled to even get this out.

"Are you kidding me!" Lily screeched in outrage. "You must be absolutely joking. Of all the stupid, I mean she didn't really, no one could have let her-"

"But Quidditch!" James and Sirius broke in with unison disgust.

"Priorities men," Remus scowled at them, "how about, even we couldn't have hung out at school! Group's of three or more, bloody hell, just walking down the corridor is banned in that stupidity of hanging out with more than two friends at the same time."

"Would you lot focus," Lily snapped. "I can't imagine how this was passed, she is literally just putting up laws now that fit her own need, how on earth is this being passed! I am absolutely disgusted anyone could be part of this."

"I think you're all missing the big picture," Harry kept scowling at nothing, "which is, how did she know?"

That did catch them off their own problem, as each ran through the list of all who were in the Hog's Head that day.

"Must have been one of the students, none of the other customers care enough to say anything about this." Remus reasoned out.

"Harry did keep noticing that one shifty person," Lily reminded.

"So there was a shifty prson, they still wouldn't have a reason to go darting to Umbridge," Sirius brushed off.

"So the best idea is that arsehole Zacharia, everyone else there never showed any problem with this," James decided.

"That friend of Cho's," Lily said uneasily.

Harry's stomach twisted in pain even as his eyes lit on her for some understanding he got from that, but then Sirius dismissed at once, "loyalty to her friend would keep her mouth shut I'm sure, Zacharia didn't have that with Ernie or that other chick," and Harry was no longer sure what he'd been thinking of.

"Great, now that that's decided, I can't wait to hear what the twins do about this," Remus sneered.

"But Quidditch!" James was not going to let that point go. "That mean's Harry's team has to be reinstated by that toad! I can't go a whole nother year without hearing about him in the Championship!"

Lily smacked him upside the head while Harry kept going with much less enthusiasm now. He'd had all of one page to enjoy himself and that had already been taken away.

"Youthful innocence," Remus sighed.

"Oh Harry they do," Lily promised at once. "I've realized time and again what a beacon of hope you are for your generation, how so many look to you-"

"Usually not in a good way," Harry interrupted with a scowl, clearly refusing any kind of comfort.

James wouldn't give in that easily as he tisked at Harry, "remember what Dumbeldore said last year? If you're striving for universal popularity you're going to be waiting forever. You've hardly ever looked past the bad people are saying of you, try for some optimism a good twenty something people are on your side that you know of, not counting the ones I'm sure are still in that school."

Harry thought about this for a moment before he really did smile. Somehow, he just knew, before all this was up he'd realize his parents were right and that was enough for now even if he didn't feel it currently.

All of them at least got a small laugh out of Ron's one track mind, but at least he'd said the main suspect first, he wasn't entirely acting like an overprotective brother.

"I can't believe it took you this long to get in this one!" James snorted with glee.

"I found that out during my second year, and it was for a much better reason than vising a friend," Sirius agreed with a wicked grin.

Harry gazed bemusedly at them, realized they weren't going to elaborate, and kept going curiously what the problem with this was.

"No, that mustn't be it!" Remus made his eyes go as wide as possible. "What on earth gave you that idea!"

Harry just rolled his eyes at the sarcasm while still grinning at the mental image Ron had provided.

"That timing," Lily rolled her eyes.

"I'd have been much more impressed if she'd been coming down headfirst," Remus snickered at the thought.

"That is entirely insulting," James pouted.

"What about in the Slytherin common room?" Harry asked in surprise. "They don't even have stairs, how do they stop there?"

"Temporary dirt funnel over you," Sirius grinned. "Any time you try to step pass the barrier, a wall of dirt circles you, though girls around you still come and go, it leaves you pinned like that till you turn around and then it opens again for you to leave."

"Same two things happen for the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws," Remus agreed.

"Why am I the only one insulted by this?" James protested of them.

"Because it's a fairly pointless rule considering most couples don't enjoy spending time in their rooms considering all the, err, shared space, so most find other places to...interact." Remus rolled his eyes at him. "You just get mad because when you tried to fly your broom up there an intruder alert went off and McGonagall showed up and nearly cursed you before realizing what you'd done."

"She never did let that one go, gave him a month of detentions and threatened he'd be in her office for life if he ever set off another alarm like that again," Sirius chuckled.

"Ron just said the same thing before Hermione showed up," Lily rolled her eyes.

"But now of course he realizes he's wrong and he's correcting her as well," Sirius shrugged.

Harry had hardly paused for breath upon realizing this before he startled at the burst of laughter from all sides. He looked around with his own amused smile to see that even his mum was giggling like mad that Hermione had done something so, underhanded, to ensure silence for this group.

"Hermione is a girl of many talents," James calmed down first as he fixed his glasses.

"She really is something when it comes to protecting her own," Lily agreed fondly.

The boys lost it all over again, cackling like idiots, and Harry joined in this time to help relieve some of the tension living in him of how sure he was this was going to be happening at some point.

"I can't imagine why they wouldn't be," Remus shook his head at the idea, his grin still stuck in place for Hermione's curse.

"I never thought anything otherwise," Sirius smirked.

"They knew what they were getting into before this stupid, I don't even want to call it a law it's so sad it's a thing," Lily scowled.

"No it won't," James said in confusion. "People chat with other people from different houses all the time."

"Still not best to have it clear and obvious who's coming up to talk to me right now," Harry shrugged.

Remus was biting his tongue to hold in the sarcastic comment that even the Great Hall was technically now falling under the more than three people in one group rule.

"I already sense true love," Lily giggled as she nestled in a bit to James' pleased smile, both parents missing the stricken look Harry seemed to get for no reason because of that.

"You could still offer her private lessons, those still even fall under-"

Remus smacked Sirius for Harry this time just so Harry could keep going.

"I can't believe you were more concerned over this group you just made up than your Quidditch team!" James was still stuck on that one.

"I'm getting a really bad feeling about this," Sirius said uneasily, already imagining that toad excluding the Gryffindor's from playing ever again just because Harry was on the team! Surely Dumbledore wouldn't really let that happen though!

"She can't stop Quidditch," James said flatly. He didn't look quite as dangerous as when he'd heard about that quill being used on his son, but this was a good second. "There'd be a true revolt, even the other houses would go barmy if she stopped one team because it would ruin the whole year's structure."

"Breath you two," Remus tried for comfort even as he shifted uneasily in place at the idea of this. "Prongs said it himself, there's no way this is going to last, I'm sure."

"Lest someone is," Harry sighed, he couldn't get rid of this pit of nausea telling him he should have enjoyed Quidditch while he still had it.

"Is that all it took, for her to start crying to get you to stop," Lily at least grinned for that.

"Could she even get rid of him?" Remus asked, clearly looking to think on something else before his friends blew a gasket over their topic. "I feel like even if she did fire him he wouldn't even take notice and he'd just keep showing up."

"I actually agree," Lily nodded. "You'd have to designate a new classroom and put a teacher in there, and then Binns would just show up and keep talking to an empty room."

"The worst part is, Umbridge would probably consider him a good teacher if she dosen't fall asleep in the back like everyone else," Remus sighed.

None of the boys laughed like the two had been hoping.

"What on Earth?" James began in confusion, that had finally caught everyone's attention onto one subject, and it wasn't History of Magic.

"What's Hedwig up to?" Sirius tried to lean over in concern to look at the book. "Either she could have dropped off her reply with breakfast or she should have waited till you were alone."

Harry had no answer, all he knew was the powerful burning protection rising in him as he gazed at his owl and hurried quickly on.

"Someone attacked Hedwig!" Harry snarled in outrage.

"Oh the poor dear," Lily crooned in concern, "I can't even imagine what."

"I really can't either," Remus shifted uneasily, remembering clearly who that letter was from...nothing could have happened to Sirius right?!

"There's a miracle in itself," Sirius said as he jittered uneasily.

"Bird bones aren't exactly easy to break, despite being hollow," Remus began prattling off as he pictured it in his mind's eye. "It must have taken some very great effort to bend it out of shape, I can imagine Hedwig fought back-"

"Remus," Harry all but begged, shutting him up instantly as Harry kept hastily going.

"Honestly Harry, you could have just walked out and he wouldn't have noticed," Lily told him with a straight face, she knew she would have if her pet had shown up injured.

No one could even crack a smile for this display.

"First time in my life someone called me wrong, and I can't even enjoy the moment," Harry muttered sourly, his eyes flickering to his father's owl and away with longeing, he wanted to know right now his owl was okay, he couldn't get rid of this terrible premonition something could be very wrong with her.

"That's so sad," Lily groaned as she twisted up some of her hair with worry, "but I'm positive Grubbly-Plank will help her, she's been nothing but decent so far."

That made Sirius question for the first time where the woman was even staying. It's not as if Hogwarts had an abundance of guest rooms set up, though he supposed one would obviously be provided for her, and entirely not the point right now.

"Must love her faith in you," James continued shifting in unease as they all watched Harry read with panic over his poor pet. They were sure she was fine, it more than likely wasn't a critical injury, but it put them all on the edge something like this had happened so randomly.

"That's not helping," Sirius said through gritted teeth.

Remus nodded absently, he'd worked all that out silently himself, and had been hoping for some other answer while Harry absently noted his question of those winged horses had just been answered and he hadn't even realized it.

"Oh the irony," Sirius couldn't help but mutter.

"She's never been slow on the uptake," James began fidgeting all the more, now fingers crossed she'd pull Harry aside so the two could go check on Sirius. What on earth had happened here?

Harry shifted guiltily, wishing he could have done more for his owl or at least stayed with her. Remus and James tried to draw comfort from the fact that Harry was more worried for Hedwig than Sirius, surely if he thought something had gone wrong with his godfather he'd be even more upset.

"The worst part is we already guessed as much," Lily said with grim disgust.

"Not even to wherever the bloody hell Sirius was hiding before, but now at the safest place on earth," Harry snarled in disgust, still shifting restlessly and knowing he was going to feel off until he knew his owl was back to one hundred percent.

"Can't imagine what else it would mean," James said drily to cover up his heart thudding harder every second. If Sirius didn't make an appearance tonight, than he'd know something was wrong. Surely though it was just Hedwig's response being intercepted, and not the fact that someone had attacked her and Sirius while he'd been putting the letter on the owl. Harry would have been told if something like that had happened, right?

"That bit is impossible at least," Sirius said with conviction, "no one else was around for last time, I'm sure it'll be fine."

They all paled as they realized that, but Lily jostled herself back into thinking right. "That falls under Dumbledore's job to keep that monitored for the school on behalf of the Ministry..." but she trailed off right there, as even before this latest stupid decree it had been made clear Dumbledore's powers were quickly being stirpped away. What if someone in the Ministry had noted when this had happened? Could it be possible they'd somehow traced it back to Grimmauld place? The amount of magical protection around that house should have made this impossible...but something had happened to Hedwig, and none of them could stop their stream of worries until they got an answer.

"There must be some other forms of communication," Harry said through gritted teeth, something even more fearful rearing up inside of him at just the hint of the idea he couldn't get into contact with Sirius because of this, and something was going to go terribly wrong because of it.

Sirius and James exchanged a significant look before James said, "well yes there is, but usually those are private and preset up things that you and Sirius just haven't established yet."

Harry looked on at him in confusion, waiting for that to be explained more, and Sirius did just that. "A few items can be enchanted so that you can have conversations one on one, but like Prongs just said, you have to individually set them up and you and I haven't yet."

Harry still felt like they weren't saying something, but pressed on anyways as he just wanted this nasty feeling to go away. He tried to even remember that happy feeling he'd felt only at the beginning of this chapter, and already that felt like a foreign concept.

"I was under the impression that was always how he talked," Remus sneered, more than tired of hearing of this little prat near constantly.

"Nothing should ever be a question of influence inside that rat hole!" Lily snapped in disgust.

"I wish they would," Siris said nastily, "then half the Ministry would quit in protest and the other half would quit because the place couldn't even run anymore, then Fudge would be forced out of office and we could put someone with a brain in place."

"That was extremely elaborate," Harry told him conversationally.

"That's Sirius," James agreed.

"Considering that room isn't housing the whole of your family, I don't consider them that reliable," James sneered.

"Uh oh," Lily sat straight up in concern.

"I hadn't realized Neville was around," James winced in concern.

"This could be..." Sirius strailed off as he couldn't decide how this was going to be. Neville would get a few good licks in, more from shock on Malfoy's part than anything, but now everyone in the area would question why this had affected Neville so bad, clearly something the boy was against as he'd never brought it up himself.

All five of them remained grim faced, the boys for once not even cheering this fight on. Neville deserved whatever he was going to do to Malfoy for that crack, but glory the motivation for it was the most terrible thing any of them could put into words.

"Not if you'd backed him up rather than stopping him," Remus said under his breath.

"As you always say Moony, time and place," Sirius gave him the absent reminder, wishing he could go start his own fight with the twisted beings passing as people walking around with the intent to do this to their friends.

They were all still shifting uneasily in here for that distressing moment, each wishing they could do something, say anything to make that even remotely better, but words weren't enough.

James mouth opened with a little pop, before he exaggeratedly clutched at his throat and began pantomiming distress.

"Honestly, I'm with Prongs," Sirius nodded along while Lily watched him with mild concern for the show. "I've never been more distressed who I want to see come on top on this one."

"Why can't I have normal friends who just say something like that, instead of you two idiots?" Remus gave a small smile as Sirius had switched to raising both hands and clearly weighing both sides, and James had only slightly calmed down by now making exaggerated faces every few seconds.

"Oh hush Remus, you know full well you want to go get the camera right now," Lily said with mild indulgence at the display.

"Well I can't tell them that, then they'd think I approve or something," he smirked.

"I knew that conviction of not letting Snape get the better of you wouldn't last long," Sirius sighed.

"You're going to blow that potion up in your face if you don't pay more attention," Lily couldn't help but scold him.

"I'm confident they'd want everything removed from the syllabus that doesn't involve brain washing," Remus snarked.

"Oh how I long for the days of Slughorn, who'd have thought," Sirius grumbled in disgust.

"I will pay that man whatever it takes to never go into retirment and keep this from happening," James vowed.

Harry was frowning lightly to himself, wondering at that time frame, though surely it couldn't be anything too significant...

Lily shook her head, now completely giving up on the idea Harry's potion was going anywhere this lesson.

"You know at some point, I almost wish he would be," Sirius groaned. "Then he'd be gone after that year."

Harry gave an odd little laugh of agreement he was sure shouldn't feel as significant as it did.

Remus snorted in surprise, and then at once was affronted he'd done any such thing, and covered his face with shame.

"There, there, Moony, we all lapse in sanity sometimes," Sirius grinned as he patted his shoulder with comfort.

"Now what was this about me being dramatic again?" James smirked. "I would never deny when anyone made a good comeback."

"Shut up Prongs," Remus huffed as he scowled at him instead.

"It is actually hurting my soul to be enjoying this so much," Sirius was watching the book with an intense feeling even he couldn't quite read. It wasn't quite pleasure, but far more understanding than he'd ever given Snape in his life.

"He's afraid to let him into a classroom with daylight, he might melt," James smirked.

"Wrong myth dear," Lily muttered without explanation to his confused look. She was sitting far back in her seat with her arms crossed. She still couldn't quite bring herself to the level of mocking him like the boys were doing, but for once in their life, they all seemed to be of the same mind when it came to Snape right now.

"Merlin's pants, you congratulate the man for one second on doing something right and he turns around and does even more bull loaded nonsense!" Sirius groaned in disgust.

"Snape reached his limit of my liking for him and then shattered it all in the same stretch, I'd be impressed if I wasn't pissed," James huffed in agreement.

"I found it cathartic to try breaking something, like his nose," Remus said so only Sirius could hear, causing him to at least giggle a bit, but the two kept that one to themselves.

"I really can't see how it makes too much of a difference honestly," Lily said grudgingly. "That's a waste of a class, you're prioritizing."

"There are many reasons I fell in love with you dear," James grinned at her, "this is one of them."

Lily just grinned as she waved on her surprised son.

"He was doodling during that class, I hardly think he missed out on something riveting," Sirius snorted.

"Hermione is a terrible conscience if she can't even tell you how to sort your day out," Remus sighed.

"I know Monday's are terrible, but this is getting ridiculous for all parties," James said in confusion.

"Ouch," Remus winced, all of them at once understanding what must have happened.

"Is it of some comfort she wasn't outright fired?" Lily sighed, none of them particularly liked her, but that didn't mean they wanted her under Umbridge's thumb either, which seemed to be what had happened.

"Not much," James groaned.

"As if she doesn't contradict herself enough with her predictions, now she's doing it in real time," Sirius tried for his old mocking tone, but even he didn't hate Trelawney enough to poke fun at this.

"If she really can't piece that together logically than she could at least consult a crystal ball," Lily muttered without any real heat.

"Of all the teachers to go on probation, she wasn't exactly number one on my list," Remus sighed.

"Even she didn't deserve this," Harry grudgingly agreed past all his annoyance at her.

"That was insulting Harry, a fact does not give two people anything in common," Lily said flatly.

"I'd be worried for the mental health if they had by this point," Sirius snapped.

"No need to think, more like," Remus sneered in disgust.

"You already have though Harry," James sighed. "That first day you asked to go to tryouts told her all she needed to know about the best way to get to you."

Harry looked horror struck he could be the reason his team didn't get set back up, so Lily quickly soothed, "oh I'm sure you're all exaggerating this, Quidditch is a set Hogwarts tradition, even Umbridge can't be stupid enough to think she can go on without letting the team play forever, someone will step in." Even she didn't look very convinced by the end, that woman had already gotten away with far too much.

"That's not the bright side I was looking for," Lily groaned, even she wouldn't put that in the good colum.

At least the Marauder's looked entertained at this display, while Lily found the whole thing rather sad this was getting such a show. Could watching someone vomit really be so entertaining?

"No real use!" Sirius looked stricken.

"This is the most valuable thing I've ever seen invented, far more useful than a dozen spells I could name that have only one purpose! This is a multipurpose gift!" James agreed.

"Would you lot calm down," Lily rolled her eyes at them. "So they make you vomit, Sirius' socks can do that."

"Not stop on command though," Remus reminded, "think about it Lily, this could even have some real world applications for spies, slipping this into someone's food and they couldn't stop unless you promised them the antidote."

Lily pursed her lips even as her mind did begin spinning past the trouble it caused. Satisfied that everyone at least appreciated these things on some level, Harry did keep going with a small smile in place now.

"And there's that," Remus agreed absently.

James and Remus finally felt themselves relax since the news of Hedwig's arrival. They wouldn't even admit to themselves how worried they'd been for him about the attack on Harry's owl during this delivery, but clearly he was just fine and it had been some other thing to happen to Hedwig completely unrelated to Harry's godfather.

Lily giggled happily at the idea, eyeing her cat whose tail was just being spotted hanging from the staircase banister.

James felt the same grin appear on his face and he wasn't even beside his mate, it was just natural even when he wasn't in on the joke, though he did wonder what Sirius knew and was eager to hear.

Harry stared in stunned disbelief at the words before turning wide eyed to his godfather, who at once put his own baffled hands up in surrender. "Don't look at me, even I'm not that good."

"And it takes a lot for him to admit to that," Remus said off hand even as they kept watching the book for this explanation. Maybe Padfoot had showed up after all but not even been seen by Harry just to prove a point, that seemed the kind of thing their friend would likely do.

"At least some things about you never change," Remus grinned.

"And I'm sure he'd be happy to teach you," Lily shook her head for him.

Harry's mouth flopped open, outraged that he was still being followed, before he glanced up and saw all of them not trying very hard to stifle giggling at the thought of Mundungus dressing up like this. James pushed the idea further by getting out around a shaking voice, "wonder if that was Sirius' idea for the disguise, and Dung was too afraid to say anything otherwise?"

Harry did crack a grin for that at least, though it didn't at all make him feel better as he still hadn't been told about this, this time not even by Sirius.

That did make the others realize as well Sirius had been fully aware of this and had not passed this information on, but James defended his mate on this one. "Firstly Harry, when exactly was he supposed to tell you this? Maybe Sirius didn't even know you still were until Mundungus showed back up to say what you'd done." His face soured for his own explanation though, as Sirius should get first say in what happened around Harry.

"Besides that, maybe Sirius just assumed you still knew. Followed outside of school, why not while in it too," Remus rolled his eyes at the absurdity of this even while he explained it.

Harry just sighed but decided against butting heads with Sirius over this when it more than likely still wasn't his decision.

"I swear you are the worst influence on his life," Lily didn't even bother trying for a stern tone as she grinned at him. "Can't you at least pretend to scold him before congratulating this idea."

"I'm not even going to bother to apologize," Sirius kept snickering.

Harry had felt some growing unease since he'd read Sirius' letter, so he tried to ignore why for a moment and asked, "what's the story there?"

"Sadly we've only ever heard some garbage from the man himself," Remus sighed.

"We tried to get him to meet us there for an Order meeting one day and he wouldn't go," James pouted, "only said he hadn't been there in ages. When we asked the barman, he told us when he'd been banned but wouldn't say more."

"Maybe he showed up without covering his face and ruined the motif," Lily rolled her eyes at all of their disappointment at not learning something.

"Considering how off that barman is, my best guess is it was something personal though," Sirius grumbled, wishing he did know what had happened.

"I still think this Dung in a dress thing warrants far more commentary," James chuckled.

"Keep it to your own head then," Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"I am to," James face at once tightened in concern of what that woman had to say about this.

"Merlin's pants, she sounds like Umbridge!" Remus protested in disgust.

"That's a bit extreme," Lily frowned at him. "She doesn't want to hear of Ron in trouble."

"Why didn't I ask the other three Weasley's to be in attendance for them to hear about this as well?" Sirius rolled his eyes.

"How exactly would you have secretly phrased that?" Harry chuckled, "I'm sure Ron'll just pass it along to them, for all the good it'll do."

"Would love to have been there for that bit," James huffed, wondering what Sirius had said to remind Molly that's all she could say on the subject.

That gave them all a moment of interest. This guard duty got more interesting the more they heard about it, though it was still infuriating just hints kept being dropped about it instead of actually being told what it was, especially by Sirius himself.

"Honesty I'm a bit impressed you did," Lily snorted.

"As if," they all scoffed at once that's the conclusion anyone could draw. Sirius saying something like that would be akin to him declaring undying love for Snape.

"There's my Padfoot," James chuckled.

"Not a chance on the Map," James' grin turned wolfish, Sirius at once agreeing while Remus looked a touch offended. He could understand why Sirius wouldn't have said the whole of the Marauders, that would hurt his heart to much to possibly ever say again, but he'd have liked to at least been acknowledged as well during that. Clearly even his name being passed along by Sirius was too much to ask for anymore, and this somehow continued to get more depressing the less he was mentioned.

"I notice you've yet to ask us how we'll be learning?" Harry smiled at him. "I'd have liked to know what you thought of me teaching the lot of them."

"I'm sure pride, amusement, and a list of other good things," Sirius smiled fondly at Harry who couldn't help but beam.

"I'd thought she'd sorted out her priorites by now?" Remus sighed.

"Then you'll have less homework and more time to practice," Sirius snorted at her oddly.

"This was her idea, why's she suddenly the one bringing this up," James rolled his eyes agreement.

"Why do you seem to be the only person thinking like that," Remus agreed with an unfocused gaze, Sirius turned to look curiously at him for the tone and not understanding the put out look still on his face.

"You'd think you'd realize same as Remus did, that's not big enough for almost thirty of them," Lily looked at him in confusion.

"I might not know how many of them there were," Sirius shrugged, "if it had been ten or less it may have worked better."

"I don't see why that's her problem," James said in confusion. "Sure the cloak helps to sneak onto the grounds, but so long as they don't do it after school hours while taking turns sneaking down there, that wasn't really the issue."

"That one could have been big enough," Sirius pouted, "if it hadn't caved in."

"I'm really coming up with nothing short of a classroom, which is ridiculous when you consider how big that school is but nothing outside of the classrooms hold that many people," James ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

Harry's voice spiked in concern at once, James nearly startling out of his seat at such an abrupt change, and Remus leaning in protectively close to Sirius as he watched the book dangerously for what that face could mean. Sirius was at Grimmauld, and Harry was at school, surely nothing could be happening at either end or they would have realized it before now...

James couldn't help jumping out of his seat then, his face stark white with concern as he fought back the impulse to snatch the book away from Harry's stuttering, fear filled voice.

Lily began swearing violently as her mind raced to realize what, how this had happened!

"No, no, no!" Harry shouted in outrage. "How could she! There's no way she could have known you were there, how could she even manage to do that to you! What did she almost do?"

"Pulled him right out of his fireplace into her's," Lily answered through numb lips.

Sirius didn't realize that pressure was Remus' hand curled so tight on his arm, prepared to wrench him out of the way of something any second, until he tried to move towards Harry and reassure him everything was alright, he'd escaped. He looked back at Remus steadily, who had to concentrate to unfurl his hand, before Sirius promised Harry and everyone, "relax, I bolted, she didn't grab me or you'd have realized it. You've never done this before, but you can still sense what's going on at your end as well as the place you're visiting, but you can also still feel the floo network working around you. I'd have sensed someone else trying to jump in and I bolted, there's no way she could tell where, everything's fine."

No one looked remotely reassured. Too much adrenaline still pumping in them, too close a shave that Sirius was once again trying to blow off. He hardly even looked ruffled, if his eyes were a little wider than usual than that was more mild surprise than anything someone had gotten so close to him.

James was still shaking and too white from fear as he kept a steady eye on his brother, that had been the most fear inducing moment yet and it had happened while he'd been chatting with Harry! What was wrong with this world Sirius couldn't have one actual conversation with his son lately without something happening to someone!?


	18. DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY

Remus struggled for a moment to make himself reach for the book, to keep going in a perfectly normal tone after their worst fear had nearly been realized and Sirius' fate hat been silenced in this future. The worst part was Sirius looking at him expectantly, like he was waiting for Moony to start prattling on about bowtruckles again. He couldn't do it, the words burst out of him like fire, "Sirius, would you please at least look at this like you would a mission for the Order, and stop treating your personal safety like an extra quill."

Sirius puffed up his cheeks, but still refused to look around at all the concerned faces as he stated, "and what, worry my tail off like the lot of you? Exactly what good would that do? I'll be fine, that toad doesn't scare me, and I'm not ever going to give up talking to Harry out of fear!" He finished with a hard look at Remus.

Remus looked like he'd been slapped and quickly turned away, while James scrutinized the two, trying to understand why Sirius thought that was the reason for Remus' silence since he'd left school...and then not being able to think of an idea against it.

Harry hadn't even registered the exchange, his mind was a pain filled buzz as the memory he'd just been given felt like the worst omen yet. Something about Sirius, and the fireplace, Umbridge's office-

"Now get on with it and read Moony, there is just no sense sitting around talking about what ifs." Sirius finished with a hint of an apology in his voice. He'd regretted the words as soon as they'd slipped out, he'd been determined not to have a go at Remus for his future anymore than he wanted to sit around thinking about his own.

The tone had caught Harry by surprise, instantly taking away whatever he'd been thinking to look over at the Marauders and realize he'd missed something, but he didn't get a chance to ask for what as Remus began around a tight throat.

"I'll kill her," Harry said flatly.

James eyed his son with worry. Not that he didn't agree, but he found his son with some pretty bad self esteem issues that it took the maiming of his pet to want her dead, while his being tortured had been played off by him.

Remus did a double take at that, trying to figure out what Harry was doing.

"Magic can make you so lazy," Sirius chuckled, "I'd have much more enjoyed chasing it about the room."

"Always true," Lily agreed.

"Be careful someone's keeping an eye on Flitwick though, he's been known to sneak up on you," James said absently, he still hadn't been able to take his worried eyes off Sirius, and now kept glancing at Remus in concern he was reading so despondent. Clearly what Sirius had said struck him deep, and James was getting worried, he hated watching his friends argue.

Harry scowled shamefully for himself not having put more thought into that at the time, he could have saved his family heart failure if he'd put a little more thought into that moment rather than letting Cho distract him. He felt like a failure, all he'd done was cause them worry since his arrival here.

"That's so foul, and yet it makes a despicable amount of sense," Remus said in disgust.

Remus frowned lightly at the pages, thinking Hermione should quit sharing this kind of information when Harry was holding live creatures. That was twice now he could have done one a serious harm by not paying attention.

Harry saw the look and sheepishly defended, "I may have honestly got the two swapped in that moment."

Sirius at least snorted at the joke.

"I still can't imagine, I mean how would she-" James struggled to put into words all the fear and anger that moment had caused.

"She more than likely doesn't know it's actually me," Sirius reasoned out. "The Floo network would have put together for her Harry was meeting up with someone outside the castle, and she was trying to snag them, but I can't imagine how she'd put my name into the equation when everyone still thinks I'm a mass murderer."

All five of them shivered hard for that ever having to be a thing again, not to mention because it would be the first step in the worst outcome.

Lily tried hard not to smile at the subject change, but she'd be happy to sit around all day and hear of Harry's lessons rather than picturing anything happening to Sirius. She already wanted to hug him any time she had to imagine him being in that dark house by himself at all hours, now he was officially cut off from any communication as well. She'd be surprised if he didn't go mad in there and burn the place down by holiday break.

"Why were we using two separate animals anyways?" Harry asked just to keep up the subject change. "They've always had enough of the same animal before."

"Honestly I think he just likes to mix it up for fun now and again, remember the class where we were practicing charming animals to hum, he provided a range of birds so we could hear the different effects. Maybe he did something similar here, though the idea doesn't work as well on silencing two well known animal noises," Remus trailed off as he still seemed puzzled at his own answer, but Harry grinned and seemed satisfied enough to wave him on.

"What exactly did he think was going to happen?" Sirius rolled his eyes. "I'd be more stunned by this point if she didn't pull it off."

"Yep, there it is," James grinned for that old times feeling.

"I don't even blame it," Lily frowned in sympathy.

"At this rate I'd be more surprised if we weren't given additional homework," Harry threw his hands up in exasperation.

Sirius gave him an understanding look, keeping the thought to himself how funny it was Harry was doing extra studying for a class that was offering him the least amount of work this year.

"Why didn't they all just move to another classroom?" Lily frowned, she knew she wouldn't have tolerated that and would have started cursing Peeves the moment he hit her or her friends.

"Because he'd just move with the herd, best to try and show disinterest in his being there and hope he goes away," James shrugged.

"Never worked on you," Lily smirked, causing James to open, then close his mouth without response.

"Oh thank Merlin!" All four boys cheered with relief while Lily rolled her eyes indulgently and hoped this chapter would just skip to that match already, she was already sick of hearing it.

"Best get used to that," James smile didn't dim in the least at the reminder of the weather, "Quidditch holds for no storm."

Sirius winced in remembrance of the last storm Harry played in, and couldn't decide if he was rooting for Snuffles to make another appearance, though at least there wouldn't be dementors this time.

"Not that I'm not intensly flattered I consume so many of her thoughts-"

"Your points sharper the sooner you get to it Padfoot," Remus rolled his eyes.

"-but why was that your first thought?" Sirius finished as if he'd never interrupted.

"It was on my mind, I tend to get a little panicky about such things when my godfather was nearly captured less than twenty four hours ago," Harry said so sharply Sirius dropped the joke at once.

"Regarding?" James prompted when Remus trailed off.

"Nope, that's where she stopped," Remus shrugged.

"Honestly, I don't know how you can stand her," Sirius grinned in agreement.

"It was her idea?" Lily balked in confusion. "What's she playing at?"

"She certainly wasn't acting like this even after the bill was passed, her precious laws," Remus agreed with a confused scowl for this abrupt change.

Sirius had yet felt more insulted by anyone, but Hermione just kept managing to hit him with the hardest blows lately, and this is one he'd give her a good snap for. He hadn't argued the point when she'd accused him of being insane, he half believed her no matter how terrified it made him. He'd given in to Molly helping him to look after Harry, Merlin knew it would be foolish to turn down anyone willing with all the trouble his godson was clearly going to get up to, but this? Was Hermione really saying if he'd told the lot of them off she'd be even more gungho for the idea? It was of the utmost insulting to his pride that his encouraging Harry along with something now was putting Hermione on the ropes!

Sirius' silent fuming was nothing compared to the other fours outburst of Hermione's line of thinking on this one. She'd said some pretty nasty things about their friend, and she continued to do it without a care for anyone, clearly not Harry. His one vague parent in his life and Hermione was saying they should no longer do something because he'd given the okay for it?

The only good thing Hermione's snide comment had done was fixed the Marauder's problem aside if for a moment. Watching Remus tersely mutter a few things about Hermione gave James and Sirius a nice firm reminder their Moony had yet to ignore Harry or anyone in any sense, and Remus forced himself to keep going after a moment just in hopes Harry might put a dung bomb in her face for the comment.

"First the twins, now Peeves, does someone have it out for Katie?" Lily couldn't help but frown for the poor girl.

"Not carefully enough as she's still saying them," James hissed in disgust.

"He rode off the back of an executed hippogriff thanks to her illegal help, and she's got the nerve to call him reckless!" James spat. "Honestly, sometimes I swear I question Hermione's sanity."

Harry was not going to come to his friends defense on this one, that was a low blow against someone who meant the world to him, he could not see Hermione's point on this in any way.

Lily chewed on her tongue for a moment as she considered her words before ungraciously saying, "She's half right on that at least, certainly got the motive anyways, though I still can't see that last part as his real intention. He's bored, but would never do something to really get Harry into trouble if the cause wasn't worth it."

James frowned heavily at her, but didn't bite her head off as she hadn't exactly said anything explicitly wrong, though it rankled him she wouldn't just be as mad as the rest of them for this.

Sirius made a deep throated noise that might have been a laugh if he wasn't scoffing in disgust.

"Fitting," Sirius murmured, his tone more distant than ever. He didn't agree with Hermione on this one, not one little bit, but if anything he was starting to feel a touch of hope again. If Hermione could be so wildly inaccurate about this, maybe her own mind was exaggerating whatever she'd seen of him over the summer. Still though, could both she and Molly be so wrong? They did seem rather similar, and no one else had paid that comment any mind of his unstable mind, perhaps he'd read too much into it? After all, as had been proven several times now, Hermione didn't know everything.

"Wouldn't she know it was a ruse though?" Sirius asked at once with absolute enthusiasm, he really hated all the sour looks around him all involving him, he was supposed to be the one to keep those looks away and Sirius did not fail at his job. "The twins haven't been subtle about them to the student body, so if they randomly get sick for no reason, I imagine she'd call them out on their bull."

James hesitated, but his mind was now caught on the issue and he couldn't help but respond, "honestly, I'm a bit insulted they're trying at all, come on men, they could be playing their game in this weather, this is keen practice you can't fake."

"The both of you should be hospitalized," Remus grumbled as he flipped the page.

Sirius grinned pompously for thinking exactly like the twins, and was honestly disappointed no one pointed it out for him, so he'd just have to bask in his own glory.

"Nah, still the same idea," Sirius wouldn't let his moment go, "randomly sick, she'll know they're faking it."

"Hey look, I was right about a fever pill," James grinned.

"Place they get their boils?" Lily finished helpfully as all four boys winced. Honestly Lily found it a miracle broom riding persisted at all, for as uncomfortable as it seemed to be riding on sticks of wood with only your legs to support you, it must be ten times more uncomfortable for lads. She'd never ridden on a horse or a motorbike, but she imagined a combination on the two on something even smaller just would not make for a pleasant experience no matter what her husband tried to tell her.

"You're teams already got the advantage for this anyways!" Remus cheered slightly at the thought even if he was still shifting a bit uncomfortably at the twins predicament. "The Slytherin's opted out of that one like the cowards they are, you've already far more practice with this weather."

"Ah karma," James and Sirius grinned.

"Is that really not a common spell anymore?" James seemed mystified these upperclassmen didn't know it, then again as he thought back, he couldn't quite remember who'd taught him that spell either. It may have actually been his dad, and like the cleaning spell, only been passed down from word of mouth so he supposed it was possible none of the others would know this, though now he was curious who would have mentioned it to Hermione. Perhaps Flitwick if Hermione was asking for even more extra work at the beginning of the year?

"Look at you passing on useful wisdom already," Remus grinned. "You'll be a natural at this."

Harry grinned sheepishly even as he did jitter with excitement to get to his first Du- err, Defense meeting. His brain fizzled a bit as he tried to understand for a moment what else he'd been fixing to call it, but the idea was gone the moment he'd thought of it.

"How on earth do the Chasers communicate in that set up?" Lily couldn't stop the intrigue creeping into her voice for this idea.

"A lot of practice in these conditions, learning silent and very subtle signals from each other, having to stay close enough to keep up those communications but also still at a far enough distance you're keeping tabs on the other team's Chasers. I actually set up this routine where every time I slapped at my shoe the partner on my right, you remember Bishop, she'd toss the ball as high as she could and it was always Pessins job to snatch it away as a quick diversion tactic-" James eagerly launched at once into some of his own spins on this.

Lily actually watched with some interest for a moment, as she'd never put much into the game even while dating him during seventh year, but suddenly she realized she'd never really bothered to listen to him either. She admired when he got so intense over the subject, but the actual techniques had always been lost on her as she'd never intended to hear these details.

It took the other three a moment to realize Lily wasn't going to cut James off, for once, and Remus cleared his throat loudly to do it for her as he was delving into an intensely detailed account of the effects of wind per hour on the tailwind that could be created in the right circumstances.* Lily gave herself a little shake and looked back to him in surprise, almost as if she'd forgotten there was an audience, as he continued.

Remus experienced intense pain on a monthly basis, and he was still managing to read that with a wince of horror upon every word for the poor twins circumstances with this.

Lily's teeth sunk into now familiar scars upon her lower lip with nerves, her eyes resting protectively on her boy as he rubbed at his scar with remembered pain, his face screwed tight as he forced himself not to acknowledge what about these had his mind spinning with the most intense emotion he'd ever experienced.

"I'm sure that was as subtle as could be," Sirius shifted anxiously at this happening again. He wished it would stop, it made him clench with such unease he could have his own boils.

James felt his stomach churning in a panic, already his hand itching for his wand in fear of his son ever being back around that monster again, wasn't four traumatic experiences enough? Yet somehow, on the grounds of Hogwarts, would still cap them all.

"Like he was when Crouch got away last year," Remus muttered, his mind racing to try and understand this. "So not a new experience like with Umbridge, in fact I'm now convinced she isn't connected to this. Voldemort was angry at that exact moment as well."

"Isn't there something he could do to block this though!" Lily yelped, fear vibrating so much from her being it had its own tangibility. "Harry has his own anger to be dealing with, he really doesn't need to know when Voldemort's is as well."

Harry looked around hopefully, but the only answer any of the Marauders could have offered was Occlumency, and they weren't even sure if that would solve this problem. This...connection Harry had with Voldemort wasn't like anything they had come across, certainly nothing they understood enough to speculate on to even begin offering a cure, let alone some aid to help in stopping this.

When Lily realized the only answer to her own rhetorical question, she couldn't bring herself to mention it either, why instill false hope for even a second, and so spoke to him with the only thing she could offer, "in anything that happens dear, at least I know you'll get through it."

"You've such confidence," Harry sighed. He wished he could agree with her, and the distance he was forcing himself to have from his memories at the moment to not understand a painful answer was helping him towards believing her, which was the only way he could wave Remus to keep going with any semblance of looking okay.

Their worry for this happening to him remained at its highest level at this news, and yet they were all forcing themselves not to panic as if this were new again. This was just like Harry's dreams from last year, only now he was getting this information without having to be asleep, and it was hurting his scar less, at least he wasn't screaming in pain...yet. Yet with every new development Harry continued to contract from Voldemort's feelings, the harder it got to pretend there even was a solution out there.

Remus wondered if Harry could even start exhibiting these problems in this time now. After all, a Voldemort with a body did exist currently, though he had yet to curse their Harry, so perhaps that would continue to prevent his future counterpart from experiencing this ever? He could only hope, and even if not, they still had time to find some kind of solution. Voldemort had his body back for many months before Harry's problem started exhibiting symptoms this bad.

"Okay, so that one is new," James groaned as their only solace was torn from beneath their feet.

"Was happiness a new one?" Lily at once tried to keep a single wall up. "I think we can count Crouch's escape and subsequent owl saying he was dead as both, don't you, so I think we can still say this is, well not normal, but not new," Lily's voice was breaking at the end with the strain of holding onto her own hope.

"Yes Lily, I'm-I'm sure that's it," Remus forced himself to agree past the lump in his throat, all eyes both trying to avoid Harry and watch him with deep worry all at once. This never got easier to hear about.

"Now is not the time for insults Ronald," Lily said tartly while Sirius forced a laugh he didn't feel.

Harry felt a tingling sensation at the crown of his head. Something about that, regarding Voldemort's mind, he truly should remember- then Remus muttered something under his breath Sirius genuinely laughed at, and Harry was looking to his parents who were sharing a fond smile as they always did whenever those two quietly snarked at each other, and Harry refused to let that pain be his undoing when he had them around him for support.

Sirius could not seem to get the message to his brain, or never bothered trying, that this was a bad idea as he began mocking, "can you imagine if you got his whole range? Peckish, depressed, smug, horn-"

"Padfoot," Remus pleasantly informed him, "not in front of the kid," he happily indicated the infant on the ground, and Sirius clipped his mouth right shut as Remus moved along.

Harry crossed his arms definitely, waiting for someone to tell him he was being an idiot again, but to his surprise no one did.

James wasn't happy about it, but he told Harry, "I wish you'd think about this decision a bit more, this isn't just about you and Dumbledore's problems, Voldemort is a threat to the whole world and any news about him should be kept up to date with the man who's got the best idea on how to stop him, but it's not as if anyone can force you to send this along. You didn't ask for this job of being Voldemort's antenna."

Harry winced anyways, the message had come across clear enough. Harry suddenly did feel petty, and his worry he was constantly trying to bury lately was rearing full force in concern that his stubbornness was going to get someone killed.

"News pertinent to the fate of the world, and our young Harry just shrugs it off," Remus muttered for Sirius alone, who smiled absently in agreement.

"Never thought he'd put homework above stopping the villain of all evil, seems Hermione's got his priorities sorted for him," Sirius whispered back.

They all shifted in unease as Sirius' words came floating back like that. Like a weapon that he didn't have last time...but the endless possibilities of what that could be without any kind of information was no more helpful now than it had been when Sirius first passed that information along. Remus still felt like clocking him and himself for not having said the answer already, it was maddening.

"Honestly neither have I," James agreed, "I found the issues going on at our school just a bit more current and pressing, I still trust the Order to be handling whatever my friends are being cryptic about."

"So glad you have," Lily grumbled, "my brain's been going crazy keeping track of everything I want to be keeping track of, and that's currently a very top concern."

James ran his hand lovingly through the fiery hair, and then began playing with it helping her to relax for just a moment.

"All excellent questions," Remus heaved a heavy sigh.

Even being very low on her list of worries, Lily still shot Harry an anxious look, though in understanding. Homework wasn't exactly something helpful to take your mind off your problems.

"Well it's no wonder you weren't making any progress on your Charms homework," Lily suddenly snorted in surprise as Remus reread that to make sure he had it right. "Those are potion ingredients love."

"Maybe that's why Ron was looking at you anxiously," Sirius wasn't trying very hard to fight off a grin, "you were in the wrong book mate, and he was too afraid to correct you."

Harry actually gave them a bemused smile for the odd slip, but it was better than that worry line that had yet to leave his face for any length of time lately.

"Urgh, who'd have thought reading about Voldemort's emotions would still be more interesting than listening to this nonsense," James grumbled.

Lily couldn't help but smile though, finding it fascinating as Harry linked such ingredients together with his real world problems, that truly was a good studying techniques if he'd actually been taking it in.

"You don't have to remind me of how desirable I am Moony," Sirius preened, while Remus flicked him in the nose before loudly moving on.

Harry'd had many moments so far where he'd understood without knowing how the importance of something, and this was by far the worst of all. Something about that door, it would mean something to his future, something terrible, and yet to put this into words, to make that fear tangible and real, would be a pain his mind could not cope with, he understood this better than ever of himself, and that scared him most of all. What happened in there that finally he wasn't willing to look ahead and see?

The worst part was when Harry forced himself back out of his mind and realized his moment had not gone unnoticed. They were all as tense as when his connection to Voldemort had been spoken of, yet they did not understand, how could they? It must simply be a dream with no other meaning, what terrible thing could be causing Harry the pain they'd seen on his face from some simple restless sleep he'd been having for months?

"Dobby's back!" Sirius cheered far too loudly, startling Harry enough he gave a small attempt at a smile for the distraction.

"With Hedwig, oddly enough," Remus agreed fondly as he pictured how this could have come about, though now Harry was all but relieved he finally could have his pet safe again.

Harry was practically wiggling with happiness at this development, not only because he was getting his owl back good as new, but he had a funny feeling Dobby would be of much help this night.

James blinked slowly as the image was painted, before declaring, "I have questions."

"Yeah, why was Dobby the one to return Hedwig?" Remus frowned.

"No," James rolled his eyes at his friends one track mind, "what was that bit about Dobby wearing all the hats?"

Remus reread that bit while Sirius started giggling at the idea. He'd been imagining an overflowing bin full of lost and found items, but this was even better if Dobby had decided to keep them all for himself, and he now wondered if the little elf made a regular habit of this.

Lily grinned happily at the idea, Dobby had always been shown to care for others and it was such a sweet thing to see this continued even while not having a master, it truly did just seem to be his nature.

"Oh dear," Lily frowned in concern, she'd never thought of that.

"I can see it though," James shrugged. "I guess if it did continue to happen and they realized what someone was trying to pull, yeah I can see this."

"Poor Dobby though." Remus had never heard such sympathy for the kind in Sirius' voice as he said that. "Imagine how much work goes into one common room alone."

Remus just hoped Harry told this to Hermione, hopefully making her realize she was in fact doing the opposite of what she'd set out to do and only making one elf work harder.

"Technically her idea was working though," James couldn't help a teasing grin on his face. "Gryffindor tower wasn't being cleaned by a slave, Dobby was being paid."

"Har, har," Lily said dryly.

"There's the bright side," Lily tried for a grin that didn't quite meet her eyes, as her son at once began rubbing in agitation at his scar for the reminder.

"I'd take Dobby over Kreacher any day, was that an offer?" Sirius said with hope, and was ignored.

"I continue to realize just how sleep deprived you were," James went back to laughing at that. "You fell asleep practicing Charms and at some point accidentally switched to an even worse assignment."

Remus managed to read that as if actually throwing burning knives that landed on no one in here. Sometimes Harry managed to forget how scary the lot of them could be until something like this came up.

"What's this you're on?" Sirius asked eagerly at the happy smile curling across Harry's face. If anything could erase that lurking feeling from before it was focusing on his group, and he had a good feeling of where this was going that had more to do with Dobby.

"That's, brilliant!" Remus gaped in shock before turning wide eyed to Harry. "The elves know more about that castle than anyone, if there is such a place than they'd know."

"I wouldn't think they do though," James was pouting a bit, mostly because this idea had not crossed his mind, and he'd be even more sour if the elves really knew something about that school he didn't.

"This elf is ruining my childhood," Sirius declared, though there was nothing but a smile on him for seeing Dobby clearly thought he did have an answer, "knowing something about that castle we don't."

"I don't understand how really," Remus was thinking about this reaction and still thinking of their map in his head and still no area was coming to mind.

Harry wasn't going to let them wallow long, he was waving Remus very eagerly on for the answer to this already, he just knew the Marauders were going to love it.

"That's it!" Harry pumped his fist, looking so giddy he may have rediscovered another Quidditch Cup win. "The Room of Requirement, I know that!"

"But we've never heard of that," James wouldn't let that one go. "Not from anything in the school, the ghosts or paintings..." then he trailed off with a further pout as he suddenly realized who they never had tried to get information from in that school. Stupid really now that he realized his mistake, but none of the Marauders had ever bothered to learn a single house-elf name in their time in school, but what if they had? What if this was purely a house-elf knowledge secret.

Sirius wouldn't let him pout long, now practically screaming in Remus' ear, "well get on with it man! Can you believe this, Harry's now found two things in that school we never have, and I want to get to hearing about it!"

"Hopefully this one does not contain a killer snake," Lily muttered even as she kept watching curiously to find out more as well.

Sirius opened his mouth again but stopped surprisingly quickly at just a warning look from Remus, he wanted to hear this too much.

"Oh my wand!" Sirius yelped in further excitement. "This is magnificent, even Dumbledore doesn't actually know about it, but it was mentioned ages ago! This is brilliant."

"He could have been lying," Remus said with a bemused smile as he remembered the snorted in goulash. "Just didn't pass along to Karkaroff the full story."

"Nah, this must be something people stumble across," James said as he was now thinking back to every passage in the school and trying to think if they could have actually stumbled across it without realizing at one point, and hoped Dobby would tell details of where this place was soon.

"And?" Sirius' eyes were about to fall out of his head with wonder at this new treat being hovered above him. "Priorities man, this is far more important than getting your beauty sleep, which is a last cause on you anyways."

"Thank you Padfoot, my son always wanted to hear you making cracks at him like that," James snorted.

At first, Sirius just smirked, but then it quickly faltered as it clicked in his head, was that what Hermione and Molly were hearing from him at Grimmauld place? Him wanting to make old cracks about James but now about Harry? Sirius had been perfectly clear headed in aiming that jab at his pup, he couldn't resist with their similarities and though he could only imagine how painful it must be for him to be without Prongs in the future, was this really the reason for their worries? If so, than they seemed almost as laughable as James had tried to tell him they were...

"Planning to get through the halls?" Remus demanded of Harry faintly. "Honestly, you've traveled through plenty of times, now you're just getting paranoid and letting Hermione rub off on you."

Lily rubbed at her temple and wished her son had one good male influence who didn't constantly egg him into breaking school rules, but then she realized she'd hardly spoken up herself against the idea and quickly stopped with a faint smile.

"I've never heard such a blasphemous sentence in my life," James said flatly, while Harry stuck his tongue out at him.

Bad mood instantly gone, James snapped his fingers in glee and shouted, "we do know that place!"

"Oh yeah," Sirius nodded to himself, "that was a secret entrance out of the castle for us though. We only used it once, because it was so bloody hard to pin down how to figure out it's switch."

"We stumbled across it one day while um, while we were trying to discuss some easier methods of sneaking out into the Shrieking Shack," Remus offered. He paled, hesitated, but saw no point in not recounting this for Harry no matter how badly it hurt his soul, the problem was he couldn't think how to say his name without biting his tongue off, and he just hoped Harry understood the implications. "Someone tripped over a stray brick suddenly peaking out of the wall, and we pulled it and it opened into a low earth tunnel that let out right on the perfect edge of the Forest, just far enough away from the Willow we could slip in without being seen while not being so close the tree would come right up and get us."

"We only used it that one time though," James sighed, "as Sirius said, we couldn't figure out how to activate it or what we'd done to get it to work. Never even added it to the map as it was of no help if we couldn't use it."

"So this tunnel you wanted out of the castle popped into existence because you had need of it," Lily worked out.

"Apparently it'll create anything you have need of," Harry agreed, that smile yet to have fallen off his face.

"But how does it work though!" Sirius demanded, bouncing slightly in anticipation. "Clearly it must be easier than we ever realized, we tried all manner of things to break that door back open, even paid a ghost to go through the wall for us and there was nothing on the other side! How does Dobby manage to get it open on a regular basis for Winky?"

Harry merely pursed his lips though, a smile still pushing through as he refused to answer, saying, "don't want to jinx this and my head to start hurting if I tell too soon."

"Now you're just being cruel," James groaned, knowing full well Harry was messing with the lot of them with that excuse, but no one argued the point, much.

Remus turned back to the pages very eagerly, feeling sixteen again and trying to tackle on the Marauders latest project.

"Technically a fool did that, Dobby was trying to take your head off," James reminded with almost amusement this time, the instance got funnier the more he grew to like Dobby, and what the little elf had just done for his life certainly helped with that. He wasn't even that put out anymore he hadn't discovered this on his own, all he'd ever wanted for his son at school was to discover his own adventures and this was certainly the best one yet in his opinion.

Sirius couldn't help his expression souring for a moment over her. He truly disliked her moments where she decided just because someone like Dumbledore said it was okay made everything peaches with the girl. If it wasn't for making friends with Harry, Sirius was now confident from that statement alone Hermione would be in line with the Ministry if it wasn't for that troll so many years ago.

Harry suddenly hoped topic of this new room never ended, as it was the first time the Marauders hardly gave his crush a passing thought they were too eager to hear of this new place.

"You lot honestly disapoint me with how shifty you can get over the silliest things," Sirius muttered under his breath, still watching the pages with burning eyes.

While Sirius and James preened at the mention of their map again, Remus thought back in confusion and asked, "when did you get that back from Moody, err, the fake Moody?"

"Oh, I snuck up there and filched it from his office soon as I was let out of the hospital wing," Harry shrugged. "Didn't even occur to me till now that wasn't mentioned." He kept thinking on it as he added, "all of Moody's stuff had already been emptied out, I've no clue where, so I was really worried for a moment I wouldn't find it, but I went through his desk and there it was, practically the only thing left in the room." He finished with a vaguely happy feeling this wasn't an accident on someone's part.

Lily burst out into full blown laughter at the look on her boys faces.

"That's it!" James spluttered in disappointment. "We got detention for three months trying to blow up that wall to get back behind that, and you just had to walk around asking it?"

"That's so, Ravenclaw," Remus crinkled his nose at the idea. "Oh just ask for help, someone'll come along."

"Actually, that's not a bad idea Moony," Sirius suddenly nodded to himself. "Remember how Lily said all the Founders supposedly did something for the school?"

"You were listening?" Lily raised a surprised brow while Sirius ignored her.

"What if this was Rowena Ravenclaws idea, seems her type of thing."**

"I wouldn't bet against you," James nodded serenely at the idea.

"So Ravenclaw both found the location for the school, and put one of the most fascinating rooms in it," Lily grinned, which only stretched wider at all the confused faces. "If you lot had bothered to ever read Hogwarts a History, you'd have found the passage that mentions how Rowena Ravenclaw apparently found the location for the school from a dream where a warty hog led her there."

"Good to know the woman who created the house for the intelligent was so barmy," Sirius rolled his eyes. He'd never questioned how his school had got its name and been happier not knowing it came from such a silly place.

Remus impatiently tried to keep going for more information about this splendid bit of the castle they were going to be exploring for the first time.

Every word was being taken in by all with the highest concentration, though for two different reasons. The four graduates were stoked for something new, another layer to the castle they'd never had the pleasure of discovering, but now Harry had! Harry was confident this room meant something great to him, something very significant for his life for far more reasons than just a secret meeting place.

"Wonder who was asking for those," Sirius couldn't help but snip under his breath.

"How on Earth did that stuff end up in there?" Lily yipped in surprise.

They all sat there for several long moments as they struggled to figure out why, before Remus said slowly, "maybe, it was the house-elves? If they were told to clean out Moody's office, and the real Moody didn't want his things back, perhaps the elves put his things into the Room of Requirement as a sort of storage? Dobby did say the elves used it for different reasons instead of just hiding away the drunk ones."

"I can see where you're going with that," James nodded, Harry honestly hoping he'd keep going, the idea appealing to him there was just a whole room full of junk things hidden away over the years...

"You mean he doesn't miss falling to the hard ground while Hermione told him to aim?" Lily giggled.

"Oh yes, a magical room appears to you, and you ask for a second library! Brilliant," James mocked.

"Was that all it took!" Remus clapped himself on the forehead.

"Well she'll be out of your hair for a good, what do you say Prongs, two weeks to read the lot?" Sirius stated.

"He said a hundred," James thought in his mind, "I want to say at least a month."

"You're forgetting this place can now conjure up whatever book Hermione pleases," Remus reminded, "I'm thinking we could lock Hermione in there and she wouldn't notice for far longer than one school year."

All three cracked up laughing while Harry and Lily exchanged amused smiles at imagining Hermione scowling at the lot.

"I think I won right there, Hermione clearly can be distracted," Sirius snickered.

"You're off to a great start with this teaching thing with such eloquent words," James chuckled.

"How on earth did the twins manage to run past this place three times while hiding from Filch?" Remus paused in confusion.

"Maybe it doesn't have to be three consecutive walk pasts, but they were leading him in a circle," James offered, thinking of a hidden nearby secret passage they could have been jumping from into another on the way to this place.

"Then what about Dumbledore, or Filch?" Remus persisted this new idea. "They know the castle well enough they'd have no reason to walk past the same place three times accidentally while going to something."***

"It's not like anyone in here can answer all that Moony," Sirius sighed with disappointment. "Boy do I wish we had Dobby here now, I'd interrogate the little bugger all day about that and more."

"Makes me wonder what Seamus thinks is going on," Remus questioned. "The two are such good friends, how's Dean sneaking off for so long without his friend questioning where?"

"Secret girlfriend?" Siris offered with a shrug.

"Naww," Lily cooed before giggling just a touch at Harry's blush.

"Naw gone," Sirius rolled his eyes, "is Hermione playing at a power trip?"

"Give her a chance," Remus waved him off, as he couldn't imagine Hermione setting Harry up like this only to pull something like that.

"You've certainly got a girl there who's not shy," James grinned which Harry happily denied acknowledging as his face went more red.

"Ah," Sirius acknowledged. "Yes, alright fine, that one made sense."

"Team spirit?" James snorted. "We don't name the different Quidditch teams further than our houses."

"You lot gave yourselves a name," Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"That's different," Sirius said, looking wounded she'd compare such a thing, but his face blanched as did all the Marauders as that was too difficult to talk about considering what one particular member had done to them.

Harry did not force them to linger on the subject no matter how much he'd have liked to poke fun at them in that moment thinking they were so special.

"Bit on the nose," Remus grinned.

"Though that one had merits for life," James chuckled.

"Well that second one's still a winner then," Sirius smirked.

"Well would you look at these two working together," Sirius' eyes gleamed in a whole other kind of laughter as he turned attention on Harry. "Best be careful pup, or Ginny and Colin's fan club may gain another member."

Harry struggled hard to hold a scowl on him even while he was far to happy in this moment. He'd rediscovered the name of a very special group to him, that alone caused him to smile without restraint, but there was something genuinely amusing about Ginny and Cho going back and forth like that he couldn't quite place a finger on.

"Who decided this was a democracy?" James couldn't help but chuckle. "Harry could have wanted a benevolent dictatorship."

"I'm thinking Hermione would start a revolt against that, best let her pretend she's calling the shots while I'm the head peice," Harry said good naturedly.

"Open foot, insert mouth," Lily said darkly for this arse bringing up memories of her son having to survive that moment again.

"Good of you to start with something simple, in instructions and spell work," Remus praised the idea. "Work your way up to that benevolent dictatorship slowly," he finished with amusement.

"Proving once and for all Neville's as skilled at magic as anyone," Lily said grimly, her thoughts still on how Snape treated him for his rather faulty work in potions. A little encouragement and he was already managing to strike Harry with the spell, he'd build up the speed necessary for a proper fight.

"That's probably for the best," Remus agreed mildly, "encouragment first, constructive criticism when it's needed later."

"Technically, they weren't not following your choice of words," James began defending at once as if his son would start scolding the twins.

"Yeah, they're pairing off and practicing, just, you know, not on their partner," Sirius beamed with pride while Harry didn't bother hiding his laughter at any of this.

"One rather sad of such a simple spell, the other very sad of his mind set," James scoffed.

"You've never tried to jinx me," Lily reminded.

"I would if we'd ever been paired to practice together," James shrugged without remorse. "I know better than to try and go easy on you, you'd send something far worse than a disarming charm at me."

Lily smiled pleasantly without bothering to deny such a thing.

Remus was reading all of this with pure fascination. One of the many reasons he loved teaching was to watch and learn all of the very different ways children could learn, and here was a wide variety of a group of students. He found himself making little notes in his own mind how he'd offer help with the mentioned problems, and then quickly tore that to shreds, refusing to acknowledge he was still entertaining the idea of going back to Hogwarts for this reason.

"This is the best room in existence!" James squelaed. "Do you think it even has limitations? How many dungbombs could fill that room?"

Lily frowned at her husband, in times like these genuinely wondering if he'd suffered brain damage in his life for having such a one track mind.

"I think she should wait a few sessions before trying to improve upon or make up her own spell, best stick with it until you've got the basics of the spell down," Sirius pretended to patiently critic until he turned to Harry and finished flamboyantly, "then she and Harry can-"

Harry clapped his hand over his mouth while looking him right in the eyes, and Sirius responded by liking the digits, causing Harry to recoil in revulsion. While Sirius' nose was scrunched up with distaste as he stuck his tongue out and tried to look at it, Remus quickly kept going.

"Well technically you did," James was all for continuing while Sirius was temporarily distracted, "how dare Harry come in the vicinity and distract her with his mere presence."

"I will pay you stop," Harry groaned.

"You can't pay me with my own money," James smirk widened while Harry groaned louder.

"Least Harry keeps things straight," Remus chuckled.

Causing both boys humor to dissipate at once from mocking Harry.

"Does someone have it out for the Gryffindor Chasers?" James demanded, slightly amused those two girls seemed to keep getting random injuries.

"Honestly, I'd believe that one by now, Harry really should be watching what he's eating," James grumbled.

"But I want to," Sirius pouted, long since knowing he'd have a hoot of fun with Luna if given the chance.

"I swear I keep expecting that girl to move down and live on the pitch," Lily rolled her eyes while James nodded for Angelina keeping that upfront.

Lily's face puckered with disappointment. It hadn't occurred to her till now, but had none of them really found a single Slytherin they could trust to bring into this? She'd spotted a dozen opportunities now, but none so wasted as this one to prove once and for all there was nothing wrong with the whole house, and if even one student had branched out and just tried to offer some help and support from that house it would have meant so much to her.

"Was this argument really needed?" Remus frowned. "They were supposed to be getting each other, Hermione should be happy he pulled it off on his first day trying."

"I'm thinking Hermione's competitive side is smarting if Ron got her before she did," Sirius chuckled.

"How did he even?" James full blown laughed at the imagery.

"I don't know what she's talking about, that still sounds like a point for Ron," Sirius agreed with chipper.

"Time for dinner I think!" Harry said at once, looking pleadingly to his mother to back him up on this, who graciously agreed and pulled Harry into the kitchen with her to avoid the now very rowdy boys who were still chatting happily about all the ideas this room had given them.

*I have no idea what I just typed, it just sounded vaguely smart, if you have an actual smart person comment to insert there please have at it. If you don't then I'll just edit that part out.

**I actually have headcannons of what the other two founders did for the school, but I'm saving those for later, for now I'd love to hear your own ideas.

***I'd love to hear some ideas on this one, because I can only explain the twins, I'm not even sure how Malfoy knows about the room as he certainly didn't stumble across it for any random reason. I have far more to say about that in the next book of course and the whole Vanishing Cabinet/ Room of Hidden Things thing, but for now we're focusing on how so many people just stumble around the same area three times to find this thing in such a large castle.


	19. THE LION AND THE SERPENT

I've officially reached the halfway point!

Lily wished she had a whistle herself to get the boys attention sometimes, but finally she'd wrangled them all around one table which did nothing to cease their desire to talk about that room. She even engaged in a few of their more reasonable questions, like speculation of what would happen if more than one person asked for different things of the room for something at the same time. Harry and his friends were all asking for a similar request, but would the room have two doors appear, combine the two requests as it did for the trio, or remain empty until one more solid thing was asked of. While no one had an actual answer for any of this, it was still fun to speculate. When the meal was over Lily happily nursed baby Harry and laid him down for a proper nap, and when she finally settled down to continue it took the boys a moment to realize she was reading without their even paying attention. It took James pleading with her to start over so they could all hear.

"A worthy secret then," Sirius grinned for his old memories of feeling the same.

"A miracle I'm not sure I could share," Remus crinkled his nose.

Lily was watching Harry preen with more pride than she'd yet seen, and it was for others accomplishments. She'd loved her son the moment he was born, but seeing him glow with pride at seeing others accomplishments after just a little bit of help from himself truly made her realize he may have found his own calling in this field.

"Indeed, unpredictability is always better," Sirius agreed enthusiastically.

"Did he think she'd come into inheritance and was being generous, donating to a worthy cause?" James chuckled.

Lily shushed him and kept going curiously how a coin helped with this.

Lily finished with utter exasperation at herself for still being so impressed with Hermione. Doing a sixth year potion in her second year had been impressive enough, now Hermione was showing how advanced she was in Charms as well, was there any subject, anything she couldn't do without putting her mind to it?

The Marauders were just as impressed. They'd never thought they'd find anything more impressive than fifth years being able to pull off becoming animagus', but it was clear enough to them Hermione would have already been able to do this as well if she'd set her mind to it, and that meant far more to them than any grade she'd ever get.

"We've all been wondering that since her first year," Remus rolled his eye.

"I suppose she asked the hat for Gryffindor, or Ravenclaw and got Gryffindor anyways?" Harry recalled a previous conversation about how the Marauders guessed people got put into houses.

"That would be our guess," Sirius agreed. "As far as I can tell, even after everything we've seen of her, she still seems to value intelligence over, well everything."

Harry said back in defense of his friend, "After the rules she's broken? The laws? I know Hermione puts much more value into our friendship than her grades ever could."

"That's not just a Gryffindor trait though, Ravenclaws have strong bonds of friendship as well," Remus shrugged. "It's what the hat perceives as the way you'd learn best, and being brave enough to put up your opinion put her in with her lot."

James and Sirius exchanged an amused look but stopped arguing the point. Lily had kept her mouth shut because she'd never liked the idea of sorting at all. One particular Gryffindor coming to mind who most anyone would have called a Slytherin if they knew what he'd done, Lockhart was a blithering idiot, Zacharias Smith had already proven to be an arrogant little thing from the humble house, and her favorite teacher in school had been all the qualities Slytherin house prided itself on without turning into a Death Eater. She would never think of anyone as something just because of what house they were in.

"Why would she call me the Sorting Hat?" Sirius asked while ducking on instinct, though Remus only rolled his eyes that time.

"Maybe the Order should invest in something like this," James said as he thought it through. "These really can come in handy, so long as you don't lose them."

"Or accdientally sell them," Sirius chuckled.

"How do you know about meetings now?" Harry asked.

"Fawk appears to us when we're alone with a note," Remus grinned. "How he always knows when to appear away from everyone I've only been able to guess at."

"So much more deniability if you get caught with it," Lily said grimly.

They all winced hard for that line, wishing there was something they could say, knowing there wasn't.

Sirius and James whooped with laughter at Harry's face as he got to partake in their old head of house's favor for her Quidditch team. Both of them were giddy with excitement for finally getting another game, they'd yet to complain about the fact they hadn't gotten this chapter.

The other three joined in the laughter as well, all imagining how many times McGonagall had looked to that Cup and smirked.

"But that part's not unusual," James grumbled less harsh than normal because he was still grinning for his own head of house.

"Wait, I thought you said the staff couldn't book the pitch for the team!" Harry yelped furiously.

"I, thought they couldn't," James euphoria was instantly wiped clean in frustration. "At least, they used to not be able to, I can't imagine why Madam Hooch is letting him."

"I wouldn't even be that surprised if he was doing it around her noticing," Sirius grumbled in disgust.

Harry scowled in agitation that McGonagall hadn't been able to do anything either because the complaint had been set to Snape, though he didn't know why Alicia had done such a thing.

Lily saw red for a moment, hating this vile creature who continued to act like the very thing he'd hated as a child.

"That is a really, really bad start," James muttered, bouncing in place as he tried to work on some advice in his head he'd offer Ron for that.

"Wow, sounds like Ron pulled off a Starfish and Stick," Sirius grinned for the talent.

"I would never deny my relation to the Weasley's, it's one I'm actually proud of," Sirius grinned.

Lily tisked while the boys chuckled at the jab.

Harry grinned as it caused those around him to laugh as well, nothing pleased him more than watching them laugh, at least when he was in on the joke.

"And here I thought Ron always wanted attention," Remus sighed.

"Clearly not this kind," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Well then this is a good lesson for him to learn, you don't just get one kind of attention," James said a little sourly.

James and Sirius groaned in unison they'd missed out on a Quidditch chapter, but both kept their mouths silent from complaint, for now.

"Food does seem to make him feel better usually," Remus agreed.

"More scare tactics," James scoffed.

"Maybe Umbridge approved some knew club," Lily said without much care, though she'd already rather hear about that than spend another chapter on a game where her son was likely to be injured, so she supposed she should enjoy the boredom while it lasted.

"And all he's going to get is cereal, what a disappointment," Sirius chuckled.

"He's being too hard on himself, the first game is always the hardest," James said with honest sympathy this time.

"The highest praise that can be offered," Sirius grinned.

Remus couldn't help snorting in surprise even while the other three boys huffed in disappointment, James and Sirius at least thinking they never would have admitted that and instead Ron should have learned how he'd done that and practiced more.

Remus and Lily started giggling this time while the old players chose to ignore them.

"I've never considered drowing myself in milk," Sirius said with his head cocked to the side, this time ignoring altogether as Remus smacked him upside the head as he continued, "but that one's original at least."

"Because bringing up homework right now is really the way to make him feel better," James scoffed.

Lily paused for a moment to take that one in while Sirius immediately clapped his hand to his forehead and cried, "how could I never have thought of that?!"

"Because you were on the team with me," James was grinning even as he rolled his eyes at Sirius, "why would you ever think to make something like that?"

"Because it's brilliant!" Sirius' grin kept stretching wider by the second the more he thought about this, before swatting Remus on the arm and demanding, "Moony, why didn't you ever think of this?!"

"I apologize," Remus said, and Harry couldn't tell how much sarcasm was in that.

"You think she has one for Ravenclaw?" James chuckled.

"I think Harry would have noticed before now if he'd ever played against Ravenclaw and a student was wearing an eagle on their head," Lily smiled.

Sirius gave an exaggerated yawn at the idea as he watched Lily's cat lick itself, he'd never been afraid of a cat in his life. The lion head had been a cool idea to support his team, but the sound effect would have just made him laugh.

"Yes," Remus agreed at once. "I'm curious what she made it out of."

"I'm sorry I didn't ask," Harry said honestly.

"Now there's an excellent use of crafts!" James beamed, "I think I finally see why some kids wanted an art class."

"Well when Harry beats Slytherin and they have a slight chance at a rematch, Luna can put it on in the meantime," Sirius chuckled, both boys missing the pained look Harry got for imagining himself in the next game...

"Remember your first match and how you were too nervous to eat," Lily reminded him, "I don't think it's going to work dear."

"Well we finally found the way to make Ron not want food," Remus muttered to Sirius.

"Why?" All five muttered to themselves, trying to figure out what that had to do with anything.

"Oh, so she didn't kiss you on the cheek as well?" Sirius switched to snickering about this now.

"Here's hoping that puts Ron in a better mood," Remus said cheerfully.

"Or it might just distract him," James scolded much to his friends amusement, now remembering how he'd reacted when Lily kissed him before his last game.

"I'm confused," Sirius said slowly, knowing he was supposed to be angry but not sure at what yet.

Lily however kept reading while beaming, and it took the boys a minute to guess what she thought those were. Lily was probably hoping some of the Slytherin's were finally starting to show some equal support for both houses, and none of them were going to be the one to burst her bubble, though they were all thinking if it was anything like that Hermione wouldn't have told Harry not to let Ron see them. Lily was probably just discounting what Hermione thought they were though like she was to them.

"Sounds like perfect conditions," James said wistfully, he really was looking forward to a game soon that he could play in again.

"I don't see why they couldn't have been left like that," Remus couldn't help but poke fun just as he always did to his friends when they needed it whether Ron was here or not.

"Typical of any team to hand that over last minute," James rolled his eyes.

"Wow, wondering if Malfoy got them the latest Nimbus models again to let his friends on the team," Sirius scoffed.

"It sounds like they're going to need it," Remus couldn't help mutter.

James was starting to get a nervous feeling about that song the more it was mentioned, if it had anything to do with the Slytherin's he just couldn't hold out hope it would be a good thing.

Lily sighed deeply, any hope for her idea gone already if Malfoy was wearing one. Now she read on grimly, somehow looking forward to getting through this less every line.

"Tough girl, it's not hard to see why Fred likes her," Sirius grinned. "Hey Harry, did her and Fred keep together after the Yule Ball?"

"I never asked them," Harry shrugged, "but I had seen George hanging around with Lee once or twice without Fred around, so maybe."

"Is he not going to try following you around with lame insults anymore?" James chuckled.

"Honestly Lily, how can you read that sounding so bored," Sirius groaned as she read out for the commentator as if reading the morning paper.

Lily simply shrugged, but Remus suddenly wished Sirius hadn't said anything, as Lily continued if possible in an even more flat voice, much to both his friends annoyance.

"Maybe I was wrong about Angelina and Fred though," Harry said good naturedly.

"Or the friends messing with one of the twins," Sirius brushed off, still glaring at Lily more every second as she tried to make her voice as monotone as possible.

"Alright, that's it," James made a lung for the book, which Lily neatly dodged and kept the book close to her chest, now full blown grinning at her husband.

"What, I'm not allowed to have a bit of fun?"

"This is the opposite of fun woman!" Sirius groaned. "I've never heard someone be so bland about a sport in my life."

Lily's giggling increased while James kept muttering at her side and eyeing the book with longing, but when she kept going it was clearly getting harder by the moment to hold a blank face as her own amusement kept rising.

While Harry had been enjoying the show, both his mum messing with the two and his old Quidditch memories, he could already feel a stirring of unease for whatever was fixing to come. Lily clearly felt it as well as she couldn't quite keep up a bored tone anymore, wondering at who could be singing during the game.

Lily had blanched in shock upon the first line, but she'd managed to stutter the whole thing out in the thick, heavy silence before coming to a screeching halt when she'd finally run out of insults.

"I-that is the lowest-" Remus looked too disgusted for words at what they were doing to Ron.

"Wow, I have seen a lot of backhanded things to mess with a player, but never a song dedicated to them," James face was scrunched up with derision even as a very tiny part of him vaguely admired the dedication that went into something so elaborate.

"Really makes you wonder what Malfoy does with the rest of his freetime, sings ballads to Hermione's parents, or poems to Harry's fame." Sirius snapped, his face twisted with dislike as he knew he'd have cursed Malfoy out of the air if he'd been there.

There was no longer any fun in Lily continuing with much less enthusiasm than anyone else, they all would have felt the same forcing themselves to read this bit no matter their love of the sport.

James was practically vibrating in place, wanting to snap on a burst of speed and deck Malfoy where he flew, wanting to say something that would make Ron put that stupid song out of his head, but both were lost to him.

"The twins friend is doing a terrible job of helping them deny relation," Remus randomly muttered as anything else to think about, fighting back the impulse to press his hands to his ears in worry for this to come.

All five of them cursed insinc for this misfortune, Lily denying doing any such thing by reading on loudly so as not to let the boys miserate for too long.

"That can not be allowed!" Harry finally burst with frustration. "Can you put a whole house in detention! McGonagall, or someone shouldn't be letting them say that about him!"

The others remained completely silent with frustration, no one wanted to be the one to tell Harry what he already knew, there was nothing that could be done, it would be impossible to halt the whole game and kick those singing out of the stands.

Lily was forcing herself to keep reading this in a flat rage now, what she wouldn't give to put silencing charms on the lot of them for ever turning someone's life into such a cruel joke of a song.

Remus was twitching with unease in the tense room, wishing he could go back to laughing along with his friends about something as fun as a Quidditch game, why couldn't they ever go one of these without something terrible happening every time.

"I'm going to imagine for a moment they skipped on some practices to all memorize this rubbish," James hissed under his breath.

Sirius gave Harry an absent pat on the shoulder, absolutely agreeing with him this could all turn around any moment. The score wouldn't even feel as bad as it did if that wretched song would quit being passed around, but though Lily looked like she was considering skipping any more lines of it, that wasn't making it vanish.

"Hooch didn't call that?" James snapped. "Could have used that penalty, Harry wasn't showing any signs of having seen the Snitch!"

"That's such an arguable call hardly anyone goes for it," Remus disagreed, James opening his mouth to argue the point but Lily ignored them both.

Had Lily's joke at the start of this game not been interrupted she still wouldn't have had it in her to mime carelessness now, even with that horrid song echoing in the back of her mind she was edging in her seat with excitement.

"YES!"

The echoing cheer of excitement could have woken neighbors. This was exactly what they needed to shove in those stupid Slytherin faces just how useless they were, how some hateful song wouldn't be enough to stop such a magnificent team!

Harry glowed for a moment in their praise, but the smile never quite reached his eyes as he watched them bounce with excitement for him. He wasn't sure he wanted to understand this feeling of dread, of something heavy just waiting to pounce on him for this win. Was it to do with Ron? Surely no one was really going to hold that against him, it was his first game after all...

Lily jerked in surprise as she read that, whatever victory she'd been holding before in that small moment blown away as effectively as a cannonball. The game was over, and Lily was hoping Ron got his revenge by clocking whichever Beater that was for pulling that stunt.

"Oh yes, just a solid metal ball slamming into your spine, walk it off," Lily grumbled under her breath as she eyed her child, then turned sharp eyes on her husband who looked no more pleased but certainly not worried about injury.

"He's wasting his talents as a slimeball," Sirius snarled, "he needs to pass on already and become a poltergeist."

"So long as he doesn't haunt Hogwarts," James agreed.

"I hope you go after Ron Harry," Lily couldn't help but urge, "you're only giving Malfoy what he wants by hanging back and listening to him."

Harry didn't answer, his face growing tighter by the minute as that feeling of anger continued to pound through him.

Harry's eyes flashed, he tensed and would have shot a curse at nothing if Sirius hadn't laid a restraining hand on his shoulder and whispered a calm reminder there was nothing for it now. It didn't make anyone feel any better, even though some of them held a dislike for Molly now they could never condone saying such a thing about her.

Lily was trying to read this quickly, so as to get the feel of sandpaper off her tongue from pure frustration. It never angered her any less when Malfoy continued using the same insults.

No one ever appreciated any reminder of the Dursley's, but putting them in any kind of comparison which was the safe house of the Burrow like that truly was the most insulting thing they'd yet heard.

"I don't know why they're bothering," Sirius articulated through gritted teeth, "Malfoy's gone past where a detention would be worth it."

James moved so fast Lily didn't realize the book had been wrenched away until she was staring at her empty hands, a slight burn in her palms from how tight she'd been holding the cover the only imprint of it. She turned to snap at him, but he was too busy jabbing his wand at the offending page.

"James!" She protested, trying to push her hand in the way to stop him before he did permanent damage.

"I am sick of that little scumbag insulting everyone, especially you," he said in a scary calm voice.

"Well doing whatever you're trying to do to that won't fix anything," she snapped as she pulled it back to her.

He gave in with a hateful scowl still in place, and Lily turned back to see the spell he'd managed to put in place, where Malfoy's name had been replaced with, well a colorful swear word Lily wasn't going to be saying. She fixed it and then kept going while James grumbled that hadn't been nearly enough payback.

Lily stopped for a moment to look at her son, nibbling softly on her lip, but not a word could she find to speak against this. She couldn't claim to be much better if someone had been speaking of her mother.

"I don't see why that was a reason to stop," Remus said quietly, "now's the time to go for the wand when the Muggle way stops working."

Sirius nodded in absolute agreement, his hand had long since been on his wand, just aching for something to curse.

"Clearly you didn't bash it into his skull, so I don't know what he's crying about," James snarled.

James struggled for a moment, but the compulsion to share his life with his son won out after his anger as he burst into speech, "I convinced our Seeker, Shilling, to keep the Snitch after every match and she passed it along to me. One of my favorite past times when I was bored was to pull it out and keep my reflexes up."

"One of your very many annoying habits," Lily sniffed, her old angry bleeding tone giving James even more flashbacks. "You looked like such a show off."

"I was showing off," James agreed without remorse.

Harry couldn't marshal up much of a smile for the two, there was something about this day that promised to get even worse for him, and he had a feeling it wasn't about detention. There was also something else, a smaller memory that didn't align with this day, but promised he somehow had a first hand account of knowing those things his parents had just said, but that was ridiculous of course, how could he have known that?

"Damn, and I always loved it when she showed our house colors," Sirius winced.

"We're past flattery to make this better Padfoot," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Never stopped me from trying," Sirius shrugged.

"Now that was just uncalled for violence," James grumbled.

"I think she needs to have one of her own biscuits and breathe for a moment," Lily said grimly, knowing Harry would get a chance to explain, but also knowing as well as anyone it wouldn't get him out of trouble no matter how much Malfoy had deserved it.

"A very educational performance with splendid end results, really they should be getting thanks at least from Burbag," Sirius said flatly.

"There's that extra week we always got," Remus muttered.

"No!" Lily groaned as she gazed at that stupid little noise. "No, no, no-"

"Oh Lily, please tell me you're doing a terrible impression of a joke," James groaned into his fingers, he couldn't even look to her face for confirmation.

"What on earth is that roadkill doing there!" Sirius all but exploded. "She's nothing to do with any of this!"

Harry's horrible impression was growing more sickly by the moment. Somehow, this was all about to get terribly worse.

"A face only my mother would love," Sirius groaned, digging his heels into his eyes so that he wouldn't have to keep watching Lily's face turn red from frustration of having to read about this woman in the same vicinity as her son again.

"You can help yourself off the astronomy tower," Remus snapped.

"I'd be more grateful if you dove headfirst into the black lake, meet the local population," Sirius promised.

"Ah the twisted irony, Umbridge is actually doing more good than harm arriving then, because now McGonagall might go slightly easier on you in front of her," Lily sighed.

"Merlin himself couldn't have offered any support for this except some toad-be-gone," James snipped.

Harry was starting to twitch uncontrollably in his seat with unease, fighting the urge to either bury himself under the couch from a reaction he could sense coming, or tear the cushions in half from his own mounting anger.

"No..." Remus trailed off, too appalled to manage anything else in fear of where this was headed.

Lily only absently noted the lack and then use of the title as Umbridge's own self-importance in thinking she could be so informal, she was far more keyed into the new level of horror of where this could be going.

"My sentiments exactly," James snarled.

"No good deed goes unpunished," Remus said faintly, his two friends going bone white as they suddenly feared why this was being brought up again. Surely, no it wasn't possible, Umbridge couldn't have found a way to force the team to disband again, could she?!

"You shouldn't have any more authority than a sack of dung!" Lily screeched. She didn't want to keep going, was almost tempted to hand the book back over to James just so she wouldn't have to be the one to find out what this monster was going to do to her son next.

Lily had found it hard to believe the audacity of those first few amendments, and they somehow got worse every single time. This woman was creating these as she went along, and no one ws stopping her!

Harry's mind went blank. He heard shouting, he saw something get tossed across the room, but it was impossible to understand details as he struggled to wrap his mind around what he'd just heard.

Lily wasn't even a fan of her son being on the team and that was too far! She only held herself back from saying this by watching her husband work himself into a rampage with the only background thought being she should find a way to record this moment, otherwise there would be no record of Umbridge left when James was threw with her.

"-youngest Seeker in a century, she can't do that to him!"

Then again, what did they need a record of her for except an example of a transfiguration spell gone terribly wrong.

Sirius was too busy running scenarios in his head about something far too violent to be put into words, he needed action to get this one out of his system. Remus couldn't get his mind to act much better, as affronted as his friends and more than willing to enact whatever revenge they came up with.

Lily watched the lot of them try to find some way to work off their temper without destroying the house in vain, she really couldn't see a way to call their attention back even if she'd wanted to. So it was to her surprise when James finally found something resembling his normal voice and forced himself not to shout at his wife, "Lily would you keep going please. I'd like to get to the end of this book and find out how she's leaving this school." Then he trailed off into more hateful mutters about how that wasn't going to happen fast enough, and he couldn't believe his son was missing this sport for a whole year until that walking wart left.

"If it isn't Remus tearing her head off to replace her than it's not going to be as satisfactory," Sirius said grimly.

Lily silently agreed as she pressed on for more horror.

"She's gone from crossing the line into a whole new abiss!" Sirius howled in frustration. "She's, that's not, there's no-"

"She can't do that," Lily said in opposition. Quietly, a dangerous predator about to strike. "That's his private property, it's not against school rules to have."

"Well don't tell her that, or she'll ban brooms from the school next," Remus threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

"You are something that I have only called one person, and you deserve the term far more than them," Remus growled.

"I need McGonagall to understand that her life purpose now needs to be revenge for this," James pleaded with the universe. "Someone in that castle must understand this!"

"I'm worried there will be someone who does," Remus suddenly said with a touch of worry, looking to a still fuming Sirius. If he heard about Umbridge doing this, he may come up to the school and give her what he'd promised Harry Prongs and Padfoot would do in their own time.

"This woman is the physical embodiment of a mood killer," Lily groaned.

"I honestly believe she's a demon sent from hell at this point," Remus agreed.

"Hey, the twins," Sirius suddenly snapped his fingers, giving Remus a pleased enough smirk. "Stop your worrying about me Moony, I can guarantee the twins won't be taking this one lying down."

Remus nodded grudgingly. It didn't make anyones anger disappear by one level, but it did ease the misery of watching Harry's face as he relived this moment.

James sighed as he imagined the old grin he could put on people's faces as he did this same thing nights in a row, of the party that should be going on, of simpler and fun times in his school, was it truly impossible for his son to enjoy that?

"I don't ever want to relive this day, considering I'm struggling to come up with a worse outcome than this," Sirius huffed.

Remus gave a commiserating nod of agreement, Lily frowning pityingly at all of the boys in the room, but even she couldn't imagine how this could have gone a better way, the end results seemed inevitable by this point.

Lily truly pitied him, but couldn't help wondering if that wasn't for the best. Just because you were good at something didn't mean you could do it in front of a crowd, and that's clearly where Ron was sitting. She'd hate to see him ever feel so low again.

James absolutely disagreed, setting his shoulders and wishing he could drag Ron onto the pitch right now, already an idea forming in his head of how he'd help him to work through this. First he'd put one person in the stands until Ron could easily ignore that person, and then keep adding people until Ron could block them all out. He didn't care how long it took, he'd find a way so that Ron would never let someone get the better of him like this. There was no such thing as quitting with dignity as far as he was concerned.

"He hadn't heard of this!?" Remus said in surprise.

"I was wondering why he didn't question why the common room wasn't in party mode," Sirius grumbled, "clearly he hasn't heard much of anything."

"Oh it's nothing of the sort," Lily snapped, wondering if Hermione would whack Ron upside the head for his thinking something so stupid.

"Malfoy would have caused all this no matter how Ron played," Sirius snapped.

Remus winced for Ron, sympathizing with him more than anyone else as he could really see why Ron did. People telling you you were something long enough tended to leave a mark.

Remus had watched the exaggerations of his friends all his life long enough to know better than to pick on Ron for that statement. Though he was hard pressed to really not ask if this was worse than thinking his sister was dead.

"Umbridge's tombstone," James snapped.

"His Firebolt back," Sirius sighed.

"He what?" Harry demanded, jumping to his feet in joy as Lily eagerly pressed the book into James' hands now so he could read more about that!

HPHP

The Lily reads a Quidditch game in a monotone voice idea was offered by, DjuulLOVEhp!

*Fun fact, most lion roars in movies are actually done by tigers. Ever heard a lion roar? You should, it sounds like their hacking up a hairball, not exactly intimidating to watch on a computer screen, more funny than anything, but I'm sure it's plenty scary in the wild. Now tigers, those guys will make you piss yourself through an enclosure.

** Reports say a Bludger weighs 149 pounds! I don't need to be a scientist to know that is more than enough to not only break a spine but go right through the human body if dropped on someone, let alone hit with force from a distance. In second year one of these was enough to break his elbow at a glancing blow! I'm not sure whether to call bull on inconsistency, or wonder if Harry died in this moment and the rest is all some twisted version of hell.


	20. HAGRID'S TALE

To Guest and everyone else who is wondering, yes I am going to really push to get two chapters a week up, as is evidenced by your extra chapter today, yay! I'm not yet promising this is going to be a new thing though, I work far too much this summer sadly to pay off some student loans before going back to another semester, but I'm still determined to push this fic into the final stages before July dangit!

* * *

James gazed eagerly down at the last two words Lily had spoken before beaming in delight. If there was one thing that could be done, practically the only thing going on at that castle at this point that could be offered for good news, it was this! He flipped the page with utter enthusiasm, for all anyone could have guessed Harry had just won his game and gone about his life.

Lily had to press her hand to her mouth to stop herself laughing out loud at all the impatient boys looks in here as well when she honestly couldn't blame Hermione.

James couldn't help jerking slightly as a memory tried to agitate his conscience, regarding the three of them and how the cloak had stopped covering them by now so they'd had to get creative. He still hated more than anything those reminders he couldn't erase from his life of someone he wished would just vanish entirely from his past.

"He wouldn't," Sirius snapped at once. "Must be because that stupid thing was still on your mind."

Harry nodded in agreement even as he absently wondered why he had a tiny feeling that song wasn't always such a terrible thing, maybe Nick could be singing it one day for good show...

Harry beamed and started bouncing in place eagerly. He hated that it had taken so long to happen, but finally he was getting his friend back, Hogwarts was finally getting some semblance of normal back!

"Oh I've missed this," Lily beamed

James startled in surprise along with everyone else. Then they all looked to Harry as if in fear of an attack, all logic being thrown out the window that Hagrid had sounded just fine before he opened the door but instead Harry had just stumbled into some wild animal attack going on inside Hagrid's.

Instead what they did see on Harry was a tense, drawn face, his eyes certainly wide with fear, but with no indication it was for himself.

"That does not sound like nothing," Lily said flatly, fighting back the impulse to take the book away because James wasn't reading fast enough for her taste.

"What the bloody hell could do that to Hagrid!?" James demanded when he was done, turning a funny purple color as well of imagining all that to the big guy.

"Very, very few things," Remus whispered as he tried to understand what could have happened to him.

They all simultaneously remembered where they'd been expecting Hagrid to have been all this time, and their worry managed to increase. If Hagrid had been on the wrong side of a giant, then it was an actual miracle he was even still alive.

"But he's going to be okay, right?" Harry demanded, coming out of his own shock and yet still unable to force himself to relax.

"Yes, yes," Lily promised, "he'll heal of course, none of that sounded fatal, I just, oh the poor dear, how long has he been like that."

James went back uneasily in hopes Hagrid would start some explaining.

"He didn't walk all that way did he," Lily couldn't help but groan with further worry, starting to bite at her lip again. "Oh he should have been given some way to communicate with someone, to tell he needed a way back home." She of course knew as well as anyone Order members did not receive outside help until touching back on base. She supposed she did understand then, but it didn't make the worry any less.

"Harry almost died and Ron and Hermione ignored him all summer, it was great," Sirius drawled.

"Why wouldn't he tell us," Harry groaned, still fidgeting uneasily as he remembered watching this happen to his friend.

"You know why Harry, I'm sure you remember he was out on Order business," James said grimly, his eyes flickering to Remus and away as he remembered a fair few times his friend had come back looking just as bad.

Harry huffed, thinking that was not a good enough reason for him to not know what had happened to his friend.

"I'm not sure how much good she could actually do him," Lily mumbled mostly to herself, thinking of her own ways she'd have liked to try and help, but Hagrid's giant heritage made a large majority of them ineffective on him.

"I'm surprised Ron doesn't recognize dragon meat when he sees it," Remus said absently.

"I presume he gets most of his dragon knowledge from Charlie, and why would he have a reason to know this bit," Sirius reminded.

"Ew," both Harry and Lily crinkled their noses in disgust, giving James a small moment of amusement that Harry hadn't gotten all his features from him.

"That actually is a recognized method of treatment," Remus told the two with an almost amused smile that was still distracted from his worry for what had happened to Hagrid. "Its juices are put into wounds to help ease the pain, but it's a minor solution at best for an aching body, not for the sever amount of injuries I'm hearing. Also it tastes like pheasant."

"I was following you until that last part, and I want to hear how you know this considering how bleeding expensive it is," James said conversationally, before also tacking on, "and how you or Hagrid afforded such a thing."

Remus just grinned, considering for a moment keeping such a simple answer above their heads, but James refused to keep going so Remus gave in easy enough just so Harry would quit eyeing the book with worry. "Alright fine, I've never tasted it, just read that fact. I presume Hagrid got it off someone cheap, maybe Mundungus or some such."

James rolled his eyes at Remus trying to mess with him but Harry's impatient little noises convinced them to move on, he clearly wasn't taking pleasure like he usually was in their banter.

Lily suddenly blanched as she remembered that horrid toad hopping around school, threatening Trelawney's job. If she had it out for that woman, Hagrid was going to have even more troubles soon than just some injuries.

"Was he really so surprised?" Sirius chuckled. "I think anyone with just a touch of knowledge could figure out where he'd gone."

"I still want to know what happened to Maxime not sending help for him or something," Lily grumbled as she stayed on topic for now. Last she'd heard her and Hagrid had gotten separated, now she found Hagrid to be injured but either no one in the Order knew about it or the message hadn't been passed along to Harry.

"Such a convincing denial, I must take notes," Sirius smirked as he pretended to dig for a quill.

"I mean, they're not wrong," James snorted.

"The point was what were they doing guessing about it at all, rather than spending their time doing normal things their age," Lily shrugged, honestly understanding Hagrid's surprise a bit, especially if he had no clue how much they knew about the Order.

"He's been their friend since first year," Remus defended, "I'd think it weirder if they didn't wonder what happened to him, and they're well connected enough to put this together with or without whatever knowledge the Order could give."

Lily stopped arguing the point, she found it moot no matter what.

"I almost want to be offended by that," Sirius pouted.

"We had plenty of knowledge to do with the schools populace," James soothed as well as defended his group.

"Can't say we'd have been involved in half the nonsense Harry has though," Remus snorted, "we were too busy entertaining ourselves to go looking for all this."

"I don't know," Sirius wouldn't let go. "Don't tell me we wouldn't have poked around Fluffy, and figured out a way down to the Stone as well. I agree it never occurred to us to put together Myrtle was involved in that Chamber and no one's out to kill us by putting our name in some death tournament..." he trailed off before conceding the point, "and we didn't give much of a lick about Voldemort's going ons until our last year of school, so fine, Harry's caused more trouble than us, in that way." He finished with the stank eye on his pup, who batted his eyes not nearly innocently enough.

"Some, surely not him though," Lily chuckled, she could hear the affection Hagrid was holding in his voice even without being there.

"What happened to, 'more than my job's worth to tell?'" Remus snickered.

"Apparently those kids are worth more than his job," Sirius smirked.

All five snorted in amusement, though Harry was still watching them curiously in hopes they'd give a better answer.

Remus gave an amused shrug as he said, "well most people know where to find them, the Ministry does keep tabs on their whereabouts."

"And as Hagrid said, they're not hard to spot," Sirius snorted again.

Harry opened his mouth to ask, but James beat him to the punch, "Ural mountains, last I heard, but that could have changed as they do migrate between regions."

Harry still couldn't help gaping at the idea of such a long distance for Hagrid to travel, on foot it seemed. Even if he had been given some kind of magical transportation there, he didn't seem to have gotten it back since it had taken him so long.

All five of them winced at that acknowledgement.

"So I'm guessing Hagrid hasn't heard of that," James said mildly.

"Wish I hadn't," Lily grumbled with disgust of bringing that mess up again.

"He has been away for awhile if he thought I was Harry," Sirius smirked while Harry snickered beside him.

"Not the best idea to lead with that part," Remus sighed.

"Don't know what you're talking about, I'm enthralled by his tale, loads of questions about why he's even at school already-"

James had to keep reading loudly over Sirius' sarcasm.

"Quite the negotiation tactic, don't go giving up that Auror dream in favor of teaching just yet," James chuckled.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Remus smirked, "being a teacher requires much persuasion and tricks to convince youths to do their homework in any decent fashion."

The other two exchanged a look before conceding the point.

"It's no wonder Hagrid has rib damage, he's as easy to crack as an egg," Sirius grinned.

"Ew," Lily grumbled again before asking Remus, "would that degrade the healing part?"

"Not necessarily, dragon meat's so tough I'd be surprised if Fangs slobber even got past the skin in time to degrade it," Remus said without any concern.

Lily didn't care what Remus said, she certainly wanted to snatch that away from Hagrid already and get him something sanitary now.

"Please tell me Hagrid keeps this story at a G rating, I get enough of this from Sirius," Remus grumbled at Harry, who firmly hoped so.

"Maybe not in English, but how much French does Hagrid know?" Sirius chuckled.

Harry felt the strangest urge to laugh, yet there was no humor in the feeling either.

Harry looked surprised as he'd been wondering the same thing, but James expected Hagrid to explain considering that look.

"I didn't realize that meant he couldn't use any magic," Harry seemed aghast at the idea.

"Oh I'm sure not entirely," Lily said fondly to all of the boys stunned looks. "Just long enough they got rid of whatever tail was on them."

James couldn't help but pause with that smirk in place promising a smart remark, but Lily flicked him in the ear and he kept going without it even while snickering at what he heard Remus mutter under his breath to Sirius.

Harry couldn't help laughing doubly hard at his life being paralleled, he missed his friends.

"Hang on," Harry said in surprise, "I thought Hagrid wasn't using magic because he never learned, but he was cleared of his charges because of my second year, so he should be allowed to do it now."

Lily looked at Harry with pity for a moment before telling him, "I like to think he was allowed, there for the two years where the world was acting normal, but if your trial was any indication I wouldn't be surprised if they found any remotely dumb way, or simply made one up of why he wasn't allowed again."

Harry set his teeth on edge in fury but nodded his understanding.

"Priorities," Sirius agreed.

"Oh, we don't get to hear those stories?" Remus honestly sounded disappointed.

"Maybe Harry will go back and ask for them after we get the good stuff," Sirius soothed.

"Pause for dramatic effect," James couldn't help but snicker as he did the same, leering at his friends for a moment who were watching him impatiently.

Harry couldn't help his mouth falling open in a bit of surprise. He'd thought the dragons were big, but these actually managed to beat that!

"So many in one place?" Harry said in surprise, picturing moving mountains all trying to camp together boggling his mind. However, he quickly caught sight of the small little pitiful frowns and realized his mistake before Remus corrected, "actually Harry, that's miniscule, not even half as many as a normal healthy population would be at."

Harry's surprise mounted even higher as he wondered at just what really had happened to kill off almost an entire species.

Harry shifted uncomfortably as he realized this. Even when he was very first told about magic he'd been introduced to it by being shown magic wasn't all good, but he'd never have imagined his own kind being responsible for the destruction of another species.

Sirius did manage a chuckle for that, eyeing Remus and not being very subtle about it, who was just as easily ignoring him.

Harry was having trouble picturing it. Even having seen a dragon, that was still a beast. Hagrid was the largest person he'd ever met, and he couldn't imagine the human features on something even larger, yet he was still getting this odd feeling he'd be experiencing something like it in person soon enough.

"Yes, simple murder on the mind, I'm surprised he wasn't dancing in excitement," Lily couldn't help but shift anxiously, even knowing it was Hagrid telling this story she couldn't help but keep picturing the state he was in while doing so, and she was still on edge waiting for the part of hearing how her friend got hurt.

Remus couldn't help but smile at seeing such enthusiasm in Ron, at the eager way Harry was watching all this. It made him realize for the millionth time how interesting History of Magic could be for even someone with the vaguest interest in the subject.

"Yes, and that automatically means, what again?" Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Smart man, or that could go on into its own book," James chuckled.

"Why are you surprised?" Lily asked. "You must already know not everything speaks the same language we do."

"I was thinking they were like Hagrid, but bigger, and it surprised me," Harry defended.

"I guess Hagrid didn't put this bluntly enough, but they're actually nothing like him. Much more, err, uncultured," James tried to think of an inoffensive way to put that and was sure he still failed, but Harry let the matter go.

"How did some know and others didn't?" Harry couldn't help the question bursting out.

"All these giants aren't from the same place, remember Hagrid already said they had to band together for survival. Some of them more than likely could have migrated from somewhere where they had learned the common dialect," Remus happily explained.

"I can't decide which is my favorite reason," Remus chuckled.

"I can," Sirius grinned.

Everyone was grinning happily as well, thinking this was going much better than it had been this time around, and it was truly a great sign for their side.

James cursed in frustration as Lily scooted closer to him with worry again. They actually couldn't go one second anymore thinking something good.

Remus couldn't help twitching uneasily, brushing at his ribs as he knew all too well of a beast's nature. Sirius noticed and gave him a nudge in those same ribs.

"Well they'd have gone all that way for nothing if they'd just left after two days," Lily grimly said, though honestly half wishing Hagrid had left, she wasn't going to get her hopes up a second time this had turned out well.

Lily gasped and tried to lean around James in concern, but he hardly noticed as he kept going with worry. He'd never thought he'd have to be scared for Hagrid's well being before, but if anything could hurt him, it would be those brutes.

They all sighed with disappointment such a promising start had been tossed in the bin like that, the lot of them would always feel sorrow that no interspecies connection ever seemed to be possible.

"When is it ever," James grumped.

Siris couldn't help snorting in surprise even as he looked on in confusion for something so violent coming from him.

"Oh no," Remus groaned in fear of what that meant.

"He couldn't, I mean they wouldn't really listen to Death Eaters," Harry quickly understood.

"Can't even be surprised anymore, just more annoyed," Sirius grumbled.

"Can't even be bothered to do something useful while ruining our offerings of help," James scoffed.

Lily's face was drawn tight as she wondered if it wasn't even the Death Eater's who could have instigated this fight, if perhaps they'd been doing this for Golgomath since Hagrid got there.

Sirius' face in particular darkened for that reminder, he was too fond of the Hippogriff not to want that one dead on principle for this fact alone.

"I thought she was calling him Voldemort now?" Sirius forced a laugh, enjoying this mundane detail rather than continuing to dwell on practically rehearing all of his current Order meetings.. "She's not going back on that is she?"

"She still said You-Know-Who when she wasn't thinking about it, old habits die hard and all that," Harry sighed.

That at least made them all smile again even for a brief moment. Trust Hagrid to manage this in the face of such a gruesome tail.

"At least he's kind while explaining about their hierarchy." Harry thought Sirius sounded too sarcastic for the kind tone he was going for.

"And they went spelunking! Why couldn't I have been invited on this trip!" Sirius couldn't help bursting in protest for something he'd been thinking on since he'd found out where Hagrid had been.

The others watched him pitifully, no one was going to tell him otherwise what a bad idea that could have been, so instead Remus corrected, "I'm pretty sure those caves aren't deep enough to really be explorable enough to be called spelunking."

Sirius rolled his eyes at him but otherwise let it go.

"Well when he puts it like that it sounds ridiculous," James chuckled.

Lily was still inching closer to James as much as she could with worry. She hadn't completely ruled out the giants as the most likely cause for Hagrid being so injured, but now the Death Eaters seemed a more likely suspect though a bit more hard pressed to manage such damage to Hagrid.

Harry was fascinated when James read that with the exact same tone as Hagrid had managed, before James' eyes flickered to Lily with a fond smile and he told her, "got any French in you love?"

She smiled up at him and just ticked before waving him on. James did keep going with ease, well aware that for every twitch his wife had in concern for someone else, her next spell would be just as dangerous for the person who had caused it.

"Only thirty seconds? I'd have given him at least a minute," Sirius couldn't help but snicker.

Harry was feeling claustrophobic just thinking about it, and his sorrow for these giants only continued to grow as he heard what pitiful states they were living in. Who'd have thought a cupboard would ever feel like a luxury when compared to this.

Lily was getting worried that there was no wishful delight back in James' voice, like he was already expecting this to somehow turn out to be bad news as well. Where was that optimist who'd plagued her for six years at school, bouncing back and hoping this time it would turn around? Was this future truly making him so miserable he couldn't even cling to one of the things she couldn't help but be fondly exasperated of no matter how many times it annoyed her in her youth.

Then all four of them sighed as they realized what they'd missed but James hadn't.

"Damn," Sirius couldn't help the curse, gnashing his teeth in frustration as he was feeling the same way as James, like nothing was working out any better the second time than it was this time around.

"Exactly how long is that thing useful?" Lily demanded.

All of the boys startled in surprise at her sharp tone, and it took Remus a minute to understand the question, "ah, several hours actually before the juices dry up and it's no longer helpful." She nodded in thanks for the answer, which didn't explain why she still looked so angry. She couldn't explain though, wouldn't put into words just now of how watching this news affect her boys was just as stunning a blow as the news itself. The Marauders were usually such a lively bunch that seeing them so upset for so long was wearing on her three times as bad.

Still, Lily managed a smile for that, she'd have given Hagrid a kiss on the cheek if he'd been here just for making sure some of the good news still persisted.

Sirius couldn't help a snort of amusement while praising Hermione, "no sense of personal questions for her eh?"

Harry chose not to defend that one even while James pouted at him and scolded someone who wasn't even here, "Hagrid didn't even finish his story though. Apparently it wasn't giants or Death Eaters that got him so messed up, there's clearly more to this."

Harry opened, then closed his mouth as he had no answer for that, but as always the sneaking suspicion he would find out.

"Forgot what exactly?" Remus couldn't help but laugh at her trying to backtrack. "She's already blurted the question, the apology after the fact doesn't do much good."

They all sighed with pity for Hagrid. That whole trip would have been worth it if Hagrid had managed a reconnection and an explanation for why he'd been abandoned other than 'that's just how giants are.'

"I'm fairly confident that's not what Hermione was wanting him to say," Lily waggled her finger at Harry, who put his hands up sheepishly, wishing his friend were around more and more lately just so he'd stop getting the fall out for their doings. He hadn't known how to apologize for this fact any better than Hermione had and was glad Ron had changed the subject.

"Who would be there so late?" James demanded in far more anger than was called for. He was more frustrated than anything at yet another answer being cut off like that, again!

"Probably Dumbledore," Remus decided. "He'd know someone came back onto the school grounds and put together easily enough Hagrid was back, he'd want a field report as soon as possible."

"That's not Dumbledore," Sirius' lip curled in disgust.

"Thank you for your candor," Lily snipped at him, shifting anxiously in place as well and wondering what that wench was doing around there so late.

"Don't worry, that'll turn into murderous here in a few moments," James said with honest relish. While in no way looking forward to how Umbridge was going to treat Hagrid, if Trelawney had been any indication, he was thoroughly going to enjoy when Hagrid ripped this toad limb from limb.

Remus couldn't help smiling for whoever that was paying attention to details.

"How does she continue to manage to be so insulting from the very start," Lily began without a trace of disbelief, but utter disgust.

"And here I thought Fang would try using her as a chew toy," Sirius said with honest disappointment.

"What happened to those good instincts?" James agreed, wishing Fang's menacing growl would make Umbridge think twice about being there.

"That won't last long," Remus promised.

"It's a small space, I'm not surprised while she's looking for whatever she thinks she is, but there's no way she knows you're there," James scoffed.

"I've called that woman many things, that wasn't one of them," Harry said in disgust. He of course admired Hagrid for his automatic friendliness with anyone, he just wished he'd had the time to warn Hagrid it wasn't necessary here.

"I'm not surprised she doesn't understand broken objects, considering that's what every mirror she looks into is," Sirius sneered.

James wished he had been there for Hagrid to help with this, though even he couldn't come up with an idea of how to communicate while invisible and not attracting unwanted attention. He just didn't like being left out of things. Sirius couldn't help the crackle of laughter coming up his throat even as they all stayed tense and uneasy in place. Umbridge had kicked Harry off the Quidditch team because he'd gotten into a fight, what would she do if she found Harry out after curfew? It truly only seemed one moment away from his being expelled.

"Hermione is officially off the Auror job," Remus groaned, wishing he could slap his hand over her mouth like he'd done countless times to Sirius, except this for a much more important reason. Smart as she was, stealth clearly wasn't her thing.

"They flew away, guess you haven't managed to take away all happiness in that place yet," James snarked.

Lily spluttered with indignity. This woman marched into Hagrid's house, was interrogating him, and now going through his things! She'd long since had the notion to curse this woman into a puddle, and she still managed to find new ways to infuriate her.

"Your mere presence on the grounds has tainted his features, it'll be a full blown epidemic soon," Remus scowled.

"Clearly a fall wouldn't concern her, she's so close to the ground her falling is the same as her squatting down," James snarled.

"I can't believe Hagrid's still politely talking to her, I'd have chucked her head first into the snow by now," Sirius grumbled.

"Preferably yellow snow," Remus muttered.

"And that is her business, because?" Lily demanded coolly.

"She's clearly given herself the impression every person exists for her business," James said bitterly.

"The Bermuda Triangle, you should try it, it's lovely this time of year," Sirius snapped.

Remus face palmed.

Sirius point blank refused to admit that he'd been thinking something similar, and instead barked, "perhaps he just wanted a change of scenery, or he wanted to go ice fishing, but wait, it's still not her business!"

"I can't even say I'm surprised," Remus sighed. "The Ministry does have an idea of what Dumbledore was planning to do, but of course rather than help him they're going to impede him like the blithering morons they are."

"You can also inform the Minister of how much I care," Lily hissed.

They all flinched with unease, even as white hot anger prodded them to keep furthering insults at that walking wart. Hagrid was an infinitely better person than Umbridge would ever be.

"And that's still the least of her personal issues," Lily said darkly, still looking repeatedly to the mark on the back of Harry's hand every now and again and the anger never fading.

"And yet, I'm worried," Remus couldn't help but fidget uneasily, already imagining decking that woman for treating Hagrid the same way she did Trelawney.

"And now I'm terrified," Sirius agreed.

"This is getting less encouraging by the second," James groaned.

"That was a lost cause before it started," Lily groaned, knowing Hermione was well aware of this. At some point hope turned into ignorance if not.

"I mean, I can see his point," Remus said fairly with an almost bemused smile, even Kettleburn had hurried through such lessons but had lingered on some of the more exotic creatures.

"You're not helping," Sirius grumbled.

"How does he manage to do that," Lily demanded, looking ready to pull her hair out of her head in frustration for Hagrid making this worse every second.

"Give Hagrid some credit, if he says they're domesticated they most certainly are," Sirius defended.

Lily hardly agreed, but she wasn't going to argue the point either. She did of course agree, Hagrid was the most competent man she would ask for help with a creature aside from Remus, but that didn't make her feel any less anxious about what Umbridge was going to have to say about it.

James' face twitched with agitation, wishing that was the only problem Umbridge could feasibly have with Hagrid instead of the one he'd gladly behead her for. Being part toad, he found it extremely hypocritical of her.

"An honest luxury to someone who's been away from one for months," Remus agreed sadly.

"Hagrid's clearly been away too long if he's so forgotten his strength," Sirius grinned.

"I honestly believe she could do that," Harry chuckled, he'd already been surprised Hermione hadn't been suggesting some to him.

"Damn straight!" Sirius agreed victoriously even as Harry felt a pit of unease welling up in him for that foreboding statement.

James was trying to nod in agreement even as he worried for how that could very well happen. If Harry could be booted from the Gryffindor team, he'd believe anything could go wrong at that school now.

* * *

I really wish Maxime had made another appearance in series. She's only mentioned at the end of the next book at Dumbledore's funeral, and never does get another part to play which I find disappointing. She's a fully trained wizard as well as the Headmistress at a pristine school all while being half giant. That's a pretty unique story in itself. I suppose she doesn't show up for the final battle because word didn't get to her in time, yet Charlie makes an appearance, so I'm just a little sad she didn't as well.


	21. THE EYE OF THE SNAKE

Lily eyed the book with worry before glancing to Harry. She wanted to volunteer they stop for the night, at least on the good note of Hagrid's return.

"Don't even Lily," James began pleading at once, recognizing the look on her face as she eyed the book, though it wasn't her turn. "Please, we haven't gotten to hear about the twins revenge yet for what Umbridge did to my boy! After that, I swear I'll back you on calling it a night." She couldn't help but give in quick enough, she wouldn't mind hearing a little comeuppance for that toad as well.

Sirius refused to get up to get the book though and demanded James just throw it to him, it dissolved into an argument of who was lasier, and Remus solved the debate by Summoning the book to him and then smacking Sirius up side the head while Lily did the same to James.

Sirius snatched the book away but waited patiently for Harry's joyful laughter to subside, they knew they were all going to long for that noise too soon again.

"Dedication," Sirius chuckled.

"No, I think that one wins," Remus sighed.

"At least someone around there knows the proper response to that," James chuckled.

All five of them started chuckling, but suddenly Sirius was even harder than before, and he wouldn't stop for several moments until finally he ran out of air and then his shoulders were still shaking.

"You know you're going to have to explain that," Remus said conversationally while watching his friend fall to pieces.

"Think back to the last time the twins were mentioned throwing snowballs," Sirius insisted, now watching the others gleefully for them to get the joke.

"Err, last year, we had a snowball fight with them," Harry offered.

"No, farther back," Sirius insisted.

James got it first, his eyes widening with some fascinating combination of fear and unrestrained humor. "The twins, were pegging Quirrell, with snowballs..." he trailed off in a strange tone of voice, but the twitching smile creeping across his face was threatening the same reaction as Sirius' soon.

"On the back of the head, where," Remus tried, and failed, to finish though the other two realized already and felt their mouth's flop open.

"Merlin's beard," Lily whispered, glancing to the first book and feeling the urge to start praying Quirrell never divulged who it was doing that or the twins would be next on Voldemort's list after her own son.

James couldn't help falling into the same laughing fit as Sirius had now, and Harry joined in uneasily like he was still half fighting back the urge to scream at the idea.

Remus just pressed hard at his temples, now fearing for his friends lives. They may very well start laughing in Voldemort's face the next time they came across him if this crossed their minds at the wrong time.

Sirius kept going with a grin still stuck in place, he hoped Harry had shared that little bit of information with them or he'd be very disappointed.*

"I was surprised she didn't start doing that when he was spending a whole year on flobberworms," Remus sighed.

"The sad part is, she's not actually kidding," James chuckled.

"Why?" Lily demanded of the poor girl. "Go fetch yourself a nice warm cuppa and come back, clearly he was out doing his gamekeeping."

"Credit for determination?" Remus offered weakly.

"Hagrid has to do work in there as well as the grounds," Sirius corrected, "remember the unicorns from your first year? He self obligates to tend to any injured creature in his reach."

"This doesn't automatically mean his first lesson back has to do with something in there," Remus agreed, though Harry hardly looked convinced.

"I'm sure I could spend an hour telling you all the creatures in there, and Hagrid probably has a cataloged book on them," James chuckled.

"Hagrid's disappointing me then," Remus said with a blank face, leaving his friends unsure how much of a joke he meant that. He'd certainly been excited enough about dragons...

Remus cracked and began snickering with laughter while the other two rolled their eyes.

Lily couldn't help but go back to worrying her lip at this, but he was still up and moving so she was at least convinced he was fine. She wished she could know what had gone wrong, to warn

the poor dear so this never had to happen to him, but at least he was back at school and away from whatever had happened.

All five of them scoffed, thinking he should have gotten a standing ovation for what he'd been out doing.

The Marauders began laughing even harder, knowing they'd have done the exact same thing.

"Where on Earth has your sense gone?" James demanded deadpan, though not as well as he'd liked as he couldn't help nodding in slight agreement. He adored Hagrid and there was no better gamekeeper, but it wouldn't kill the man to stop putting his son in extra danger like some of his previous creatures had caused.

Sirius was already flush with anger at the thought, in some distant way he almost found it remarkable how he could continue wanting to punch the same person in the face repeatedly, he

was more than used to that feeling, and was just having to redirect it.

"Probably because it goes over her head and she got lost," James said with relish.

"Let's hope she goes wandering into the Forest and never comes out," Remus grumbled.

"That means they're starting to heal, even if they aren't the prettiest sight," Lily began smiling with relief.

They all frowned uneasily at that though, but James quickly tried to reassure, "maybe he's just, err, picking at them, you know scratching at the scabs." None of them really believed this, Hagrid should have the self restraint not to, but they couldn't think up anything else.

Sirius practically felt the cold chill wash off of Harry beside him, looking over with worry to see he'd gone ghastly pale and was shivering at the mention of this. He opened his mouth in concern, but Harry was already forcing himself to remain out of the moment, pinching the bridge of his nose and breathing deeply before looking around at them. He did not try to offer a comforting smile, just nodded to show he was fine and turned back to Sirius. There was still something dark lingering in his eyes, washing Sirius with a now familiar deep worry. He hadn't seen Harry this afraid to learn something since the end of last year, when Cedric had died...but no, this must be something else, maybe he was remembering the basilisk too vividly, no one else was going to die!

Sirius exchanged a look with the others, but when Harry felt like the silence was going to smother him he forced himself to find his voice and pleaded, "it's alright, really, I don't know what that was about but it's certainly nothing to do with Hagrid's class," even this small memory he offered made him twitch with unease even as he relaxed for that being true, and Sirius forced himself to keep going for at least that miniscule comfort.

Remus couldn't help but snort in surprise, making Harry smile despite himself.

Lily couldn't help but groan in frustration, she felt like tearing out her hair at her boy now being forced to go back in there again.

"Calm down dear," James placated even as he kept a worried eye on Harry, but though he was frowning his words still seemed to be true, he wasn't afraid of the Forest, much, at least not to the level of whatever memory he'd nearly remembered. "We told you the older students go into the forest for some advanced Care of Magical Creature's classes. Hagrid is doing this a bit early, usually only NEWT students do, but when has Hagrid ever been conventional?" He laughed at the end like something was actually funny.

Lily didn't join in, but she didn't feel like yelling at Hagrid, as much, either.

All of the boys couldn't help a dark chuckle for this.

Even Lily couldn't help a twisted little smile for that. Of all the times she'd detested that sport for multiple reasons, she'd never condone something that made her son so upset, and clearly losing his spot on the team because of this twerp meant he deserved far worse than just a little discomfort.

Remus couldn't help his level of interest rise. He completely trusted Hagrid's words on this and was hoping Harry was experiencing something he hadn't gotten to in his own classes with Kettleburn, and was now resisting the urge to snatch the book away from Sirius with curiosity.

"I, well I mean the skrewts were," Lily struggled to both disagree with Malfoy and not make Hagrid come off too bad in that, but failed and the boys couldn't one hundred percent back her up either, so they let the awkward silence hang.

"Oh surely that's nothing to do with this," James said at once as Lily lost an extra shade of color. "If Hagrid says he's domesticated them than he did, that means it's been years since he's had whatever this is. No, I'm still convinced those injuries have something to do with whatever happened on the way back from the giants."

"Something that made Maxime come home early and leave him to himself," Lily reminded a little snippy. Even knowing it hadn't been Maxime to rat out Hagrid last year, she was still a little cold towards the woman who'd caused him so much pain in her original down turn of him, though she'd been suppressing it since clearly Hagrid had forgiven her.

"I'm positive that was Hagrid convincing her to do so, which makes me wonder if Hagrid did come across some new creature and he didn't want her to get hurt," Sirius tried.

"Which still has nothing to do with this actual lesson," James finished with conviction, as he felt that had made his original point.

Lily wasn't entirely convinced, but as they had nothing more to go on, let it go.

"I love Hagrid," Sirius chuckled.

"Do I want to know what happened to the other half?" Harry muttered with unease.

"Was probably breakfast for whatever this is," Remus said with far too much eagerness in his opinion. "Now he's coming out with more, as more than likely they haven't wandered off too far since then."

Remus was clearly listening with the most interest, a smile on his face Harry hadn't seen since they'd been talking about the Skrewts. He was so busy silently laughing at his utter enthusiasm for this, and his friends clear indulgence as they were not so silently snickering at his clear interest at this, his memory pain from before was easily being put to rest for now.

"Oh!" Remus' smile didn't at all dim even as he clearly understood what was going on while Sirius nodded in the same way. "You're going to love this lesson Harry."

"Why's that?" He couldn't even pretend at uneasiness with how happy the both of them were. He glanced to his parents who both shrugged, they didn't recognize the noise.

Remus and Sirius exchanged a look, but then they both smirked and neither would tell Harry, though cleary sure of themselves Remus was right.

Harry gasped in surprised pleasure while Lily and James grinned as well for finally getting the joke.

"You tossers," James happily scowled at the two, "you couldn't have just said it was Hagrid's way of calling the thestrals."

"Where would be the fun in that?" Sirius chuckled.

"It's not like we were one hundred percent sure," Remus batted his eyes innocently. "Kettleburn had to get Hagrid to bring one to our class in our last year, he'd only been trying to domesticate them only a few years previously and we only got to see the one, so we weren't positive that was how Hagrid got their attention."

"You both recognized that noise and you know it," Lily rolled her eyes at them while Harry was now bouncing eagerly in place. Even having these creatures explained to him already, he was still eager to finally have the memory returned from his own time, at least then Ron wouldn't think him crazy anymore.

Lily fidgeted with a bit of hair as the question occurred to her, but she didn't want to ask as it felt rude. Harry clearly had no restraints as he blurted the question.

"His dad," Sirius said, the smile beginning to dim as he recalled, "he explained that to us when he was leading out a rope with nothing on the other end."

"So you can't actually see them?" Harry said in surprise.

"I can now," entirely losing the smile now. "Couldn't then."

Harry felt bad for his question at once, glancing uneasily around and realizing they'd all be able to see them now just from the looks on their faces, and no longer had the courage to ask.

"Oh," Lily murmured as she brushed her nails uneasily through her hair.

Remus and Sirius nodded without surprise though. Their classes hadn't even been as large as Harry's and half the class had been able to see them.

"How would he know whether I could or not," Sirius blurted out, then scowled at Remus when he pinched him, but then they all grinned as Harry again laughed at the joke.

"Certainly an interesting experience," Remus chuckled.

"I wonder if you'd told her about this instead of Ron if she'd put it together?" James asked.

"Not sure, depends on if the books do or don't say what's pulling the carriages, otherwise I wouldn't really think she'd make this particular leap," Sirius shrugged.

"If Harry'd described them, I bet she would have," Remus defended.

"That's just superstition, like Muggles and black cats," Sirius scoffed.

"I'm pretty sure by the time you do see them, you've been as unlucky as it's possible to be," Remus grumbled. James looked confused why such a thing would be a superstition, but decided against asking.

"Why am I not surprised?" Lily rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Those who are surprised, please raise their hand," James rolled his eyes.

Sirius made a guttural noise in outrage, all too willing to feed this owl treat to the thestral, thought she'd hardly be a big enough to qualify as a snack.

Harry felt a funny little feeling rising in him, the idea of Umbridge in the Forest caused such a huge stirring in him that must be more significant than her studying one of Hagrid's classes...

Remus threw his head back in laughter, probably a little too amused but unable to help himself.

Now the lot of them were giggling, still more at Remus' reaction.

Remus stopped laughing at that, but a smile lingered in place that gave Harry the creeps. He didn't usually find Remus that scary, ironically he found him the most open and friendliest as his dad and Sirius had this way of looking sometimes that made him want to duck for cover. Yet this wasn't the first time he'd seen evidence Remus could be the scariest one of all. It was clear in this instance that though he usually ducked away and tried to ignore what people thought of him though, he wasn't going to let anyone be thinking or doing anything like that around Hagrid.

"Death is scarier than her face, so maybe," Sirius snapped.

Lily's mouth popped open in outrage. She'd seen evidence of this the first time, but clearly the woman was going to keep putting on a show, and the thought of ringing her neck was clearly starting to look like a kindness.

James spluttered with indignation and set the little table on fire, though he hadn't consciously pulled out his wand.

Harry scrambled for a moment to recall a spell to put it out, and Lily realized a moment later that anger wasn't her mind's manifestation but she really did have to wave her wand to vanish that.

Though they all had the understanding of why she was doing this to Hagrid, the fury it pushed them all to for treating him like this was just as bad as what Voldemort had been known to do.

How could this horrid walking soulless monster claim to be anything else while treating him like that!

Lily wrapped her hands tight around James', both to still her own hands and his from setting anything else on fire.

"Great, I got his present all ready, hope he enjoys his new coffin," Sirius snarled.

"She's far more restraint than us," Remus said flatly. "I'd have already given her a fat lip for starters."

Hagrid gave her another uneasy look before ploughing on back to patting the first to arrive, a male name Tenebrus-

"That was the one he brought to your class?" Harry tried valiantly to keep up any tone that didn't promise murder.

"Yep."

The one word answer from Remus was not encouraging.

"They classify anything more than a kelpie dangerous," Sirius' lip curled in disgust, shifting protectively towards Remus, who for once was so angry on someone' else's behalf he hardly recognized the intended slur against him.

"Well I guess we all share that trait, and she's perfected it," Lily hissed.

Remus sighed heavily. He would have quite enjoyed chatting about this, he found it a great way to put into perspective many misunderstood creatures, but as that woman would be classified as more dangerous than a dragon to him, now didn't seem the time.

Sirius was white knuckling the book by the end of this, never having been more tempted in his life to turn into Padfoot for the act of revenge from this woman being eaten by a creature. He'd never envisioned using his animal as anything more than a friend to Moony, but this woman managed to taint something he'd only ever seen as a good side of himself.

"It's almost kinder this way, more deniability later when he claims not to know anything about her murder of being strung up in a tree," James huffed.

Lily was close to that urge as well, and she couldn't even act on it, so she almost envied Hermione as well as wanted to snap at her to get on with setting her on fire.

James hands were shaking in fury underneath Lily's grip. He couldn't believe Hagrid was letting this woman do this to him. Then again, he'd also been letting Malfoy get away with this for the past two years. He couldn't comprehend why Hagrid wouldn't stand up for himself and tell this woman to shove that clipboard up her arse.

Somewhere in there was a fascinating parallel between these two girls, but it was too clouded with anger from everyone else to be paid much mind by anyone who would.

At least Remus still had the clarity of mind to acknowledge this as the correct response rather than wanting to drown her in a pile of dung like he still wanted to.

Harry felt a feeling buzzing at the back of his mind, frowning for a whole new reason that had a terrible connection to this scenario. In the Forbidden Forest, looking at Thestrals, needing some place to go...even Sirius reading was mounting that feeling into an actual panic at just trying to connect these dots, but then a warning sting had his eyes watering from the pain of thinking about this too long and he was forced to let the threads unravel again. The others were still too angry at what Umbridge was doing to have noticed this time.

Lily's face gained an extra blanch in fury, it seemed quite the miracle in itself Umbridge was managing to find every way possible to anger her.

"You're too stupid to realize how little time you have left to breath," Sirius vowed.

Lily made a guttural noise that was probably meant to be sympathetic if it had been less angry.

"That wasn't an inspection," Lily howled furiously, "that was a persecution that should have been your execution!"

"I'm running out of insults. Those weren't quite as bad as I was hoping for, but it's good Hermione's keeping it fresh," James seethed.

"Certainly doesn't take a blind man," Remus huffed.

"Nothing in my life seems fair," Harry muttered to himself, his anger bleeding out into something far worse. He was getting scared. Now that Umbridge had come and gone with such a blatant

abuse of her power, he couldn't help fearing what was going to happen to Hagrid because of it. She couldn't possibly find a way to send him back to Azkaban could she?

James actually made the motion like he was going to smack Ron upside the head. "Since when does Ron take anything that lime toadstool says over Hagrid?"

"He was just arguing with Hermione, like he always does," Harry sighed, though he'd given Ron an affronted look for that too at the time.

That cooled most of their anger. While right in line with Hermione's fury, she had no idea what she'd really just asked for, giving them all a moment of surprise. As mature as Hermione acted, they forgot sometimes these three were still only fifteen when this was happening.

Lily hummed with a small smile on her face, at least Hermione was always quick on the uptake, even her own mistakes.

"I envy the generation where that's the good news," James muttered.

"Do you think he could see the Snitch better with two black eyes?" Sirius barked in fury.

"I hate it when she tries that advice," Harry groaned. "It never actually makes me feel better."

"Doesn't usually stop you when you decide to retaliate either," Remus said grimly, "and this time seemed appropriate."

"A tradition in itself," Remus at least tried for a friendlier tone of voice, though Sirius still seemed too down to put his usual enthusiasm into the holiday. He supposed it was of some comfort

Hagrid hadn't been kicked out of the castle his first day back though.

"Oh no, you were far worse, as you had more practice at home," James promised.

"He's not even speaking from experience with that one," Lily said with a faint smile, "believe it or not, he didn't give his parents as much hell as you'd think." She told Harry.

"Gave me more credibility when the teachers tried to tell my parents I did something, they thought I was an angel," James batted his eyes innocently while Sirius snorted and rolled his eyes, properly informing Harry, "or they just indulged him and me too much not to think half the stunts we pulled weren't funny."

"Least some things never change," Lily said wistfully, and students complaining about Filch was always a common one.

Sirius frowned at the pages, having some real questions for Hermione about all this. Did she really think she was releasing elves, and the castle wouldn't be showing it? That someone wouldn't be investigating this even if her plan was working? Hermione could easily get into big trouble if she even was, he wouldn't be surprised if the Ministry charged her with theft and all sorts of things. He left all of that to himself though, since she wasn't doing a thing, and instead was distantly amused at her worrying over something so foolish to him.

"I can see the pro's of that," James chuckled.

"Though I still think that could have been an educational moment for her," Remus frowned.

"Only if she'd listened and realized the way she should have," Lily disagreed, "and I'm not entirely she would have yet, if ever," she finished with a fond smile for the girls tenacity.

Sirius couldn't help but perk up with interest at that. He hadn't thought about it too much last year, enjoying himself in provoking Harry in the mix of his Yule Ball failings, but now he wondered just what he'd been up to last year at this time. Had he and Remus finally managed to regain one of their own traditions and spent the holiday together? Or had he spent it alone in that old cave with Buckbeak, wondering if Harry would make an appearance and amuse him by ignoring his rules by coming out of the castle to see him.

"I don't even blame you," Remus sighed in agreement, thinking the Burrow would be a relief even with Molly and Sirius in one place compared to this storm of a castle.

James opened his mouth curiously in confusion, but Harry promised Hermione explained it to Ron.

James eyes widened in even more confusion and perhaps a little concern at this idea, before Lily began giggling without restraint and promising James it was in fact great fun. Though never having had the pleasure of doing this herself, she was now promising him they could do this together and he would never turn down such an offer.

Lily snorted and shook her head in exasperation while the boys all chuckled at what they'd felt was implied by this point.

"But of course she will," James looked scandalized anyone could think otherwise. "Even she couldn't have the heart to leave him alone in that place, I've been half hoping he's been sneaking over to the Burrow just to get some air now and again."

Sirius grinned at his best mate for the overly protective words that he wasn't convinced were true. It was impossible to imagine his life without James, but he had the nasty feeling he was hardly up for leaving his bed to sulk anywhere that wasn't the fireplace in hopes for someone to be around being in that place all alone. He doubted his spark of life would lead him into doing something like James suggested being in that mood, he'd need one of his friends around to give that back to him.

"Dumbledore needs to stop having a say in everything," Remus snapped hatefully. He never in his life would have thought he'd say any such thing, but regarding Sirius being locked away in that place he knew would always be an exception. Just the thought of it was putting a damper on his lively friend!

Sirius tried for laughter at the idea, but it came out too twisted. None of the others refused to even nurse the idea, there was just no chance Molly was that cold hearted. No matter her feelings about Sirius' personality, even if she did value Dumbledore's rules as an absolute law, she must see what that place was doing to Sirius! No mother could look at him and think what was happening to him was in any way good for him!

"Naw!" Lily cooed at how sweet that was, while the boys just looked confused at such an odd gesture.

"How could you tell it was Dobby though?" James asked in surprise.

"Who else knows where this place is?" Sirius returned with a shrug, all of them missing the slightly appalled but vaguely amused look on Harry's face.

Sirius blinked slowly at this for a moment, before he tossed his head back in laughter, and began sliding down the couch with mirth. It might have been a touch forced at first, to ease away the bitter taint of thinking of his future again, but now he couldn't seem to stop. Harry wasn't particularly delighted to see no one was exactly trying to get him to either, but rather suppressing their own laughter.

Harry tugged the book away without remorse and kept going loudly over Sirius, who quickly recovered and tackled Harry, pinned him down and easily snatched the book back, sat on it and continued snickering to himself until he decided he was done before going on all while Harry rolled his eyes affectionately at his godfather. Moments like this making him truly feel sad for his own future, that he had no recollection of ever seeing Sirius this happy and full of life, and growing more worried all the time he never would.

"Why on Earth would you do such a thing, ruining his hard work!" Remus demanded still a bit breathlessly.

Harry just scowled at him without response.

"At least you acknowledged somebody else's work," Lily said through still wobbling lips.

"I think you brought that one on yourself, not being the first thing you took down," Remus told him lightly while Sirius and James fell into renewed giggles.

Little tears of mirth were pouring out of Sirius' eyes, he'd hardly stopped giggling for a line in between getting all this out and this was only making things worse. He didn't yet have his voice back to properly make his joke, but that didn't stop him from trying, though it only came out a garbled mess that the others just shook their heads at, Harry almost looking disappointed when he kept going without repeating himself sensibly.

"Well now you're just disappointing me," Remus pouted, "I'd have loved for you to ask anyways."

"I'm sorry," Harry actually sounded like he meant it.

All of James' humor was wiped clean, looking like he'd been sucker punched in the gut for that reminder. Sirius too lost his sense of fun for the reminder of why no more Quidditch practices had been mentioned, that dower look on his pup could never be funny.

"Well, well, well," Lily said in surprises, all the boys looking marginally impressed it was another Weasley to have made the team. Harry's reaction was a brilliant smile, like a proud sibling, but not quite right, Lily couldn't help but notice. He didn't seem at all agitated like she would have thought of learning of his replacement, and she frowned in thought as he began twirling the ring upon his finger yet again...

"I'm not surprised," Sirius smirked in some form of congratulations someone had taken this away from his pup. "Her whole family's got talent, it's only natural she'd get a portion!"

"Do we know if Percy is any good at the sport?" Remus said curiously.

"More important matters, who's broom was she using?" James pondered.

"Not Ron's, he's still using his," Sirius thought out.

"I may have guessed the twins if-" Remus began bitterly, but Harry cut in with an enthusiastic smile.

"I think it was the twins, or I mean, I think the twins bought her a broom, called it an early Christmas gift." He thought back to watching Ginny enthusiastically thanking the twins for

something anyways.

"Oh, that was so sweet," Lily enthused.

"Wish they'd thought of that over the dress robes for Ron, but it is good to see them doing so much for their siblings," James fondly agreed.

The boys hardly noticed a thing about Harry's lack of the proper reaction he should have had, they were to belligerent for him he wasn't the one on the team and now Angelina wasn't helping anything.

"Thank you!" Sirius barked, waving his hand impractically in Harry's face like he'd been saying the same thing in here, though he still had that funny smile in place. The thought had been crossing his mind frequently enough before he relearned Ginny's ability in Quidditch, and this seemed oddly significant to him for some reason...

James scowled and shifted in agitation, thinking that earned Angelina a dung bomb under her bed for this repeated offense against his son. A little sympathy wouldn't kill her.

Sirius sighed, but didn't want to linger on anymore bad, they'd had enough of that already, so picked back up a chipper enough tone while telling Harry, "yet more evidence you took your learning smarts from Moony. Everybody loves the teacher that doesn't assign holiday work like practice."

Sirius' smirk widened as he managed to make Harry and Remus bluster with appreciation for the praise at once

"Well then someone should have informed him," James rolled his eyes with regret.

James whooped with delight, beating Sirius to his own joke when saying, "yes, I mimicked a twin, I win!"

"Win what exactly?" Sirius demanded with his own grin.

"Not sure, I'll let you know though," James promised.

"How about the right to tell Sirius he can't make that dumb joke anymore," Remus offered.

"You can make that yours," James waved off, his eyes lighting with something Harry had grown to associate with a Marauder story, "I think I've got something better."

Sirius met his eyes with a challenging stare of his own, going on without fear.

"Aw man, you mean she stopped trying to improvise her spell work around you?" Sirius smirked at Harry. "Also, I'm growing disappointed in you pup, I haven't heard one instance of you encouraging those private lessons she so clearly needed."

"Can my reward for not strangling him please be he stop making those jokes," Harry begged his father.

"I would never, this is an endless source of amusement," James snickered while Harry turned pleading eyes to his mum, who could only offer him sympathy at this point.

Harry let Sirius' teasing go, he couldn't seem to hold anything other than pride for those around him, his friends doing so well. He honestly believed they could have been just as great under any tutelage, he already knew they were all capable as Remus had been the start to them all understanding the work needed to go into this class.

"Ooh," Lily grinned, "now you're getting advanced."

"They've all caught up to all the spells I knew," Harry's smile increased at the idea, ignoring that pesky feeling about something regarding that for-coming lesson. "That was the last one I had preplanned, and it's a really difficult one."

"I know you'll get them through it without a problem," James said like this was obvious. "I am a bit curious how you plan to do it though."

"Hopefully he just starts with getting the spell down first for them, he doesn't need the extreme measures he had to go through, he can build up to that later." Remus offered with a small frown, no one wanted to hear of Harry around anymore dementors, even the boggart kind.

"Uh hu, and maybe a little something more," Sirius persisted, Harry's face turning a stunning new shade of red the others hadn't quite seen before. His memory was raising a flag of warning already for whatever was fixing to happen, and he had the desire to take the book away from Sirius again for a whole new reason.

James wolf whistled while Harry pleaded with the ceiling to cave in.

"Wow Harry, you got her crying before you even did anything, that's got to be a new record, even better than myself if you can believe it- ouch!"

Remus whacked Sirius upside the head to get him to stop while Lily's face folded with sympathy. She'd been fixing to snap at both boys to quit picking on her son for this already, now she realized Cho wasn't even trying to make a move back, but looking for sympathy, and she really hoped Harry at least tried to help rather than running for the hills like James slightly panicky look showed he wanted to now do.

Lily rubbed at her temple, confounded how his automatic reaction wasn't to go to her, wrap his arm around her in comfort, ask if she wanted to talk about it or if she simply just needed a shoulder. She knew not all boys were as dunce as hers, but they certainly acted like it sometimes.

Sirius couldn't help a snort of surprise, which he immediately regretted as Lily gave him a blistering look and Remus nudged him hard in warning not a second before he'd done it.

"Oh," Sirius whispered like a deflated balloon. There went any humor he could have offered.

Lily gave a heavy sigh in understanding. Cho was looking for someone who'd been close to Cedric like she had, someone to understand what she was going through on her level, and Harry really was the closest person to that, and yet the worst one. Harry had his friends to talk to about this, even Sirius, but not on the same level Cho was seeking. She no longer could imagine the two together anymore if this was how Cho was going to start trying reciprocating feelings for Harry, she couldn't even imagine this turning out well for the two poor souls in this moment.

Harry was starting to look a little green from being forced to remember this again all while the bubbling sensation of being around Cho alone.

Remus couldn't help feeling something cracking at his jaw for that, maybe a smile, as he all too easily envisioned anyone running for the door after seeing a crying girl.

Harry met Lily's eyes, the flash of understanding present in the whole room, why Harry wouldn't share how he did know some of the answer to this with just anyone. He'd never even told if he'd shared with this Ron and Hermione, and no one was going to ask.

"Right, it's all her fault bringing this up, we're all in agreement," James was babbling uneasily until Lily nudged him to get him to stop, they all just wanted to change the subject.

"Not heartless," Lily promised him at once. "It's natural love, I promise."

"Does it get better?" The whisper escaped him before the question had even formed in his head. No one had the heart to lie to him and pretend it did, but the full range of that answer couldn't just be covered in a quick chat. Lily had been asked the question though, and she would never just not answer him.

"With the right people around you, you can learn to live around it."

He seemed to relax under her words, his smile easing as he glanced out the window, into nothing really but his own memories. For a while he'd almost selfishly wished he hadn't gained these back, had almost entertained the idea for a while he'd done this to himself on purpose for some ease of a better life, but the peace settling over him at her words convinced him on the spot he could never do such a thing, because she was right.

"This whole thing is awkward," Sirius muttered, wishing he could skip a few pages already, no amount of mocking Harry at his crush was worth this ball of pain seeing his pup so miserable at the reminder of Cedric.

"Girls," James muttered in agreement. How they managed to cause a never ending conflict inside was their own source of magic.

"Uh oh," Remus hummed under his breath.

"That's what you lead with eh?" James couldn't help but ask as Harry's face grew steadily more red. He wasn't mocking though, Harry was surprised to hear, more watching him with indulgent curiosity to see how this played out.

"I'd have thought it was obvious, you should never bring up another girl at a time like this," Sirius pleasantly informed Harry, who seemed to have lost all ability to speak in here as his mind couldn't grasp anything else now. They'd stopped talking about Cedric, he should be grateful, but oh he'd never wanted to see their reaction to Cho being so close to him!

Sirius suddenly felt cheated. Moments ago he'd been wanting to skip this just so Harry could at least have this private moment and he'd have much more fun speculating and poking fun at his pup, but now the book actually had gone and cut this off! He even tried to check if pages had been stuck together before giving and and looking to Harry hopefully, demanding, "alright, out with it, what happened next?"

Harry sat there for a long time with a blank look on his face, such a look of shock they wouldn't have been that surprised if he'd just announced he'd lost all his memories again for realizing what had just happened. The words that came out didn't even seem to be attached to him. "She kissed me."

Harry hardly registered the whoop of joy from his father or the enthusiastic pat Sirius was giving him, it was hard to think past much of anything really. At fifteen he'd felt more elated than he ever had in his life while also so infinitely confused because of what she'd done after the fact. He couldn't quite bring himself to string those words together yet. All at the same time, some very distant part of his mind was shaking its head at his past, not quite in disapproval, but not exactly happiness either. It took him several more moments than it should have to realize that Sirius was going to keep going.

While clearly happy for him, there was something about this reaction they couldn't put down all to shock. His smile was oddly detached, something clearly lingering in him showing this wouldn't stay a happy memory for long. This couldn't then be the first kiss between him and his future wife, or if it was then something really interesting must happen in between times.

Lily started giggling uncontrollably while none of the Marauders even seemed to be giving this a passing thought. They were all ignoring her, thinking it was for an entirely different reason.

Ron was on the hearth doing Transfiguration homework, but both looked up upon his entrance and asked what had taken him so long.

"I get the feeling you're not going to get a choice," James said, watching Sirius impatiently to see if what they all knew had happened, really had! This was Harry's first kiss after all, and Harry was still acting too wide eyed to give them much to go on in here.

"I honestly can't blame you, considering company," Remus snickered. James and Sirius were acting like this was his Quidditch team announcement and Lily hadn't stopped giggling for several moments, he couldn't imagine Ron and Hermione would react much better when they found out.

"It's a touch sad by those reactions they're assuming it was something bad," Lily managed to get out, trying to compose herself and stop laughing at Harry's face and her husbands proud smile.

"I think I'm actually grateful for it this time," Sirius agreed with a touch of impatience, Harry wasn't helping anything in here, they needed a bossy hand.

"Hermione needs to read a book on subtlety," Sirius snorted.

"Like you'd be any better," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Why's she frowning?" That caught Lily's attention.

"Not for the reason you're thinking," Harry told her, blinking slightly and clearly coming back to hear to glance at her with a still benign smile. Whatever had been bothering his mind before had clearly passed for now, and he was willing to at least semi laugh along with whatever they were. "There's nothing between us, I swear." He was now more sure of that than ever.

Lily nodded without surprise, just confusion at the reaction.

"Padfoot did much the same," James huffed. "Wouldn't believe me for ages I'd finally gotten her to kiss me until she did it in front of him."

"Can you blame me?" Sirius said without remorse. "You'd been going on for ages it was going to happen, woken up from enough dreams convinced it had-"

He ducked as James chucked a pillow at him to get him to stop, but now Sirius wanted to keep going remorselessly because of that until Remus nudged him and reminded, "let's focus on one at a time for now."

Sirius sighed but acquitted.

"Ah," Lily finally said in understanding.

"It's not that bad, just because Hermione didn't laugh along doesn't mean she needs to think him childish," James rolled his eyes while Lily pressed her lips together to hide a smile.

Cue four collective snorts of laughter, Lily couldn't help herself.

Harry wished it were harder to tell in here.

"That's what she gets for bringing up what she did before she started this," Remus sighed.

Sirius was becoming unintelligible, his voice wobbling as he fought to keep reading around his laughter at Ron's conclusion.

"I don't think that's determinable from one peck-" Remus began with a light smile before he was cut off by James' scoff of disbelief.

"Not my son!"

"Know this from experience does she," Sirius couldn't resist poking even having expected Harry's eye roll.

"Merlin, you'd think she'd run out of tears," James was starting to look a little frightened at such a thing occurring while Lily smacked him harder. James rubbed at the spot but was suddenly a bit happy that Harry wasn't more enthusiastic, and defensive, of this. If this was Harry's future wife, he'd start to feel a little worried about this.

"Hermione is so eloquent," Lily chuckled.

"I don't see anything wrong with what he said," Sirius grinned, while Lily scowled at him and considered parting some of Hermione's wisdom on him specifically, not that it would do him any good.

"I found it fairly obvious actually," Remus pointed out.

"Didn't you take the time to ask her, try to talk to her?" Lily tried to keep the accusation out of her voice.

"I mean, she kind of just took off after the fact, I kind of patted her on the shoulder for a quick moment," Harry struggled and ultimately gave up trying to explain himself as Lily's brows kept rising.

Lily rubbed at her temple even while she was thanking the universe for her son having a friend like Hermione.

"Bloody hell, the girl sounds like a train wreck!" James said, actually yelping in pain at how hard Lily smacked him that time.

"A little sensitivity dear," Lily said acidly.

"It's not like I said it to her face," James defended.

"Has Cho and Hermione been having secret conversations where she learned all this?" Sirius demanded as he kept looking at that list of things.

Lily groaned and rolled her eyes in exasperation, she really needed to go hang out with Alice when this was all over.

"Just be grateful she didn't try to say all that in one breath," Remus remembered from her first appearance.

"Honestly," Sirius agreed. He hadn't even found that many of those things that complicated, why was Cho making such a big deal of them.

"Apparently it's even affecting her Quidditch abilities, I think the girl needs some time off to sort herself out," James said with a touch of sympathy, and an apologetic look at Lily, who decided that was as close as he was going to get to understanding that heaping mess.

"Well that's hardly fair," Sirius couldn't help but defend, "Ron's been through some stuff as well, doesn't necessarily mean he can compare and understand how she's feeling."

Lily looked to him in surprise, thinking that had almost been some form understanding on Sirius' part.

"No one really can," Remus agreed, even Lily was shifting anxiously as she wasn't sure of the right thing to say to Cho, one of her real friends would have been better like that Marietta.

"She's more restraint than most," James grinned slightly, as Lily herself lost the fight and did just that.

"That's not what she meant and you know it," James scolded.

"No, not really," Harry said with such a sincere face James believed him, and shook his head at his poor son who kept looking around for some kind of answer no one was going to give him. Then it was clear by the look on his face he'd gotten it, and his face flushed anew as clearly his mind was wandering off.

"That's fair," Remus agreed, "for all she knew, Harry might not have wanted her to kiss him."

"Well he did, and now he has, so the question is what he's going to do with this next," Sirius said, looking curiously to Harry, who gave no indication he'd heard, and then back to the book curiously.

"I want to know when she started to notice," Harry muttered. She'd made it clear she knew at the Hog's Head, but how long before then? How long had Cho been planning this? Was he already making a fool of himself by not having done something ages before now! His mind was bubbling with too many questions, and it suddenly slammed into him his real circumstances. At the time, he'd have been aching to write to someone about this, more than likely was going to bring it up to Sirius on his holiday visit...but now he actually did have his dad he could ask. His parents real advice, if he'd so chosen... but for some reason he just couldn't put his finger on, not about Cho...

"Oh I'm sure she won't be like that forever," Remus tried to say sympathetically, but he was still too amused by his friend for that to have quite come off right.

"You know, I actually don't right off the top of my head," Sirius looked honestly disappointed he couldn't mock Hermione for that.

"What a wasted moment," James agreed with a sigh.

James looked like he'd been sucker punched in the gut. Who knew that all those years later, Sirius' joke would turn into Harry's only option. It hadn't occurred to him yet this was where Harry's thoughts would head, but of course that made logical sense, no matter how scandalized it made him feel. He glanced over and saw Sirius looking a bit shamefaced to have read that, while Harry was frowning at him and clearly wanting to apologize. James shook his head though, refusing both of them for something neither could help.

"An impartial friend," Lily said with an eye roll. Though it had never been confirmed, she hardly thought Hermione had the time to both travel to Bulgaria over the summer to visit him, and be so in touch with the Order as she'd clearly been.

"Harry, you are not helping!" Sirius said as dramatically as possible, biting his tongue to stop himself adding that Ron would probably pop by and see him as well during break now, though more likely he'd go see his own dad, or maybe one of his brothers.

"There's the proper response," Remus said, looking uneasily between the crackling tension that James and Sirius were suddenly trying to pretend didn't exist. It's not like either of them could help it, neither blamed the other for the circumstances and both would do anything to change them, leaving both completely unaware what was even needed apologizing for.

"You'd probably have vomited from stress," Sirius told Harry, then suddenly frowned as he watched a bead of sweat trace down his face. Harry was suddenly looking sickly pale, a white hot

pain resting on his mind of some memory fixing to return. He'd been far too distracted from Cho and now Sirius and James to notice the oncoming warning signs like before, but they were there now. The tightening of pain around his consciousness, his breaths starting to go shallow. He couldn't sense any oncoming pain though, which meant this would be something even worse...

Sirius exchanged a slightly panicky look with the others, but no one needed to tell him what he already knew. Harry couldn't say what was suddenly making him look so panicky, and the only way to find out was to keep going. Yet just by the look on Harry's face, Sirius suddenly knew he'd rather be doing anything else in the world. He could never do that though, leave Harry in such sickening dispense, so he took a deep breath and forced himself to keep going with the same enthusiasm as before. Harry was going to bed after all, nothing was going to happen to him in his dormitory, they had a bit of time...

Lily opened her mouth wearily, she wanted to keep talking about this, chat with her son and offer up some more advice, but James wrapped a reassuring arm around her waist and she at once acknowledged that delaying whatever was plaguing her son wouldn't make the blow any better.

James gave an uneasy laugh that echoed oddly in the room, all of them sitting tensed as if waiting for a snake to strike. Harry's shaking and pain filled expression promised something bad was coming.

Sirius spluttered in indignation, even as a dream he couldn't imagine saying such a ludicrous thing and he turned to grin at Harry, wanting to see his pup go back to normal for just a second and be outraged at the idea as well, but he was so focused on something that he couldn't understand it was as if Sirius wasn't even there. Yet the tense set of his shoulders made it clear he was still aware enough, waiting for the blow to start.

Remus was picking at his sleeve just for something to do that wasn't waiting for this horrible news, plucking at a loose thread that would soon create another hole he'd have to patch and he

didn't care. So long as he kept focusing on that, his mind couldn't go wild and create some horrid scenario that surely they must just be exaggerating, that look on Harry's face didn't necessarily mean...

Sirius had managed to get through that by reading as if yet another odd dream of no significance, because none of that had made a lick of sense. That had sounded like, a snake maybe? It was attacking someone, but obviously Harry was just having some vivid nightmare, maybe about the basilisk or anything else, he couldn't wrap his head around another alternative.

Then he looked to Harry, hoping for some sign of relief, that this nightmare had just scared the dickens out of a young kid like so many others had, but he knew. He was stark white, his mouth had flopped open and his face etched with horror all while his hand pressed into his scar as if holding his head together.

"Harry, Harry breathe." Lily pressed her hands to either side of his face, stroking his wet cheeks and refusing to let go as he kept shaking.

"I, what did I do?! He's dead-"

"No!"

The word crackled like electricity through his mind, he should know that voice, believe that word, but it was impossible. He was trapped between a memory and a fear, it was all his fault!

The book had fallen out of Sirius' sweat slicked hand, but he lunged back for it and began flipping wildly through the pages. He couldn't just sit there and do nothing, he had to know what was wrong with Harry, and he couldn't think of any other way to force him out of this state than to find out what really had happened.

In some wild part of his mind, Remus had to guess Harry hadn't done that yet simply because he wasn't yet aware enough of his own body. He was still trapped in a limbo of what was and an impossibility that he couldn't rationalize.

James felt useless just standing there, only on his feet by sheer willpower of hovering over his son when he was so vulnerable despite his shaking limbs. He couldn't do anything, Lily wasn't getting through to him, and no matter how much he kept whispering to Harry they just weren't getting a reaction.

"No," Lily snarled, her hands tightening around Harry as he began shaking in place, somehow, impossibly, his fright growing by the second. Her sharp green eyes wouldn't leave his face, but

Sirius could still feel their intensity spurring him on.

For the first time in his life Sirius didn't even seem to realize he'd said his own name, he couldn't think of anything else but getting to the damned part where Harry realized that wasn't true, it couldn't be. It just wasn't possible, because nothing was adding up. Harry hadn't seen that, he hadn't done it, it just had to be a dream, and he'd realize that any second!

Lily recognized the change in his parlor just in time, but not fast enough as he managed to vomit on her as well as himself. She didn't let that stop her for one moment, as finally his lungs had returned to him, but now he was gasping so hard that whatever he was trying to say still held no intelligence. All they were sure of was that he believed that, and they weren't going to stop until they convinced him that wasn't a possibility.

Lily had gone right back to being beside him, still running her hands carefully though his hair, constantly whispering in his ear there was no way this was true of him, but it wasn't giving him any comfort; because he knew deep down there was a part of him that had done this.

Remus considered them lucky he wasn't in the room, and fifteen again, as he was likely to turn around and snap at them to leave already, he didn't need anyone's attitude on top of worrying about his family.

James wanted to feel relief. He trusted McGonagall to know the best way to help Harry right then when he couldn't, but the feeling escaped him as he kept watching his now panicking son. It was as if they weren't there, his eyes were flickering around the room and the fear wasn't dropping out of him for one minute.

Sirius finally hesitated in his hasty need for a moment. He wanted to make his favorite joke, he wanted to see it distract Harry from the horrors of this just for a moment, but for all their concern Harry didn't seem to even be aware of them. Sirius wasn't even sure if he'd heard anything since the news of Arthur's attack. That wasn't going to stop him though, he had to keep going, to find out the truth.

"Neither of those things was going through anyone's mind," James promised at once, still watching every twitch of Harry's with concern.

"At least no one important," Remus muttered.

Sirius cursed as he finished his part in frustration. Looking to Harry in hopes some relief would appear, Dumbledore would explain, but if possible this news only managed to make him look worse. They just wanted to understand, what was happening to him?

HPHPHPHP

I've heard that in the original rendition of this book JK was actually planning on killing Arthur, and please forgive me for sounding like a cold hearted monster, but I almost wish she had rather than Sirius. The message still would have been made, anyone close to Harry could die, but the Weasley's still have a parent left at least. It really breaks my heart what happened to Sirius through the course of this series, and realizing that in this moment Sirius might have been saved if someone else had been lost always makes me extra upset.

*I've always seen people realize this at the end of the first book, but I always found this a much funnier callback.


	22. ST MUNGO'S HOSPITAL

"Harry! Harry, please talk to me." Lily couldn't force her mind to think of anything else but finding that life back in her son, that this attack seem to have stolen from him. "Harry listen to me, whatever you're blaming yourself for, it wasn't you dear, I promise!"

"How can you know?" Harry demanded, sounding so broken, he may as well have the memory of cursing Arthur himself.

"Don't be ridiculous! That's like saying you were the one who used the Cruciatus curse on Peter last year!" It was the first time James had been able to say his old friend's name, and the spasm across his face was enough to prove how badly it had hurt, but it made Harry blink at him in surprise. He had his attention, and he was going to dig in while he had the chance. "You saw it happen, you're still seeing the things Voldemort's doing to people, but that doesn't make you the cause of any of it, certainly not the one doing it!"

Harry wished that was all there was to it, but there was something else, some key reason why it was his fault Arthur had been there, and it all circled back to him, just as all terrible things seemed to do.

"How can you know though?" He all but whispered, though that lasted only moments as the longer he kept going, the nearer to shouting he was getting. "You've said it yourselves, you don't know what happened to me, what's wrong with me! I speak Parseltongue and I shouldn't be able to do that, what if there's something inside of me that-"

He cut himself off with a cry of pain from the sharp stab of his mind that was being paralleled with his mother swearing in agitation and forcing herself to keep her voice so that he could hear her every word.

"You did not do this Harry! I don't even mean physically, you should know that was impossible, you woke up in your bed for crying out loud! I mean that you're a wreck because of something

that happened to him, not-"

"Not directly related to you," Sirius inserted, trying in vain to make Harry understand this in some way and falling back on his usual. "Not everything has to do with you you know."

The joke fell flat, Harry could no more believe this then understand why they kept defending him from himself rather than kicking him out the door.

Remus snatched the book away from Sirius with a look of concentration on his face. If they couldn't get through to Harry in one way, then the least they could do was wrap their heads

around what exactly had happened, and then the logic would become clear and Harry would have to understand he'd nothing to do with it.

"It said the snake was in a long dark corridor with a locked door on the end-"

It caught the other's attention at once, and though it was clearly only a small fragment of their attention where the rest was centered on Harry, it was even the smallest relief to focus on a subject to get through.

"The same one Harry's been dreaming about all summer," James said with a look of dawning apprehension.

"Arthur was there doing something for the Order," Lily murmured.

"He was guarding something," Sirius agreed with finality. "Something Voldemort wants. That weapon, most likely."

"Falling asleep on the job though," James shook his head, "I don't know, that does not sound right of him."

"Maybe something was done to him," Lily struggled to put together a scenario she had the barest knowledge of. "If Voldemort had somehow gone there with Nagini, managed to put Arthur to

sleep-"

"There's no way," Remus disagreed, "he'd kill him just for being there."

Harry winced hard at the reminder, but tried to continue for them, "so the snake was somehow there alone, got into where ever this place was, which means someone had to have done

something to Mr. Weasley before hand for him to have passed out, and I- the snake tried to sneak past."* He winced terribly at all of them staring hard at him for his slip, but it was still impossible to erase the feeling from himself. He could feel it, like a chunk from his very soul, some part of him had done this.

"Can't imagine why the person would knock him out and then leave only for the snake to come back?" James threw his hands up in exasperation, none of this was coming together.

Harry didn't care about that though, he didn't want to keep talking about this place, it was only making that gnot of anxiety roll through him tighter every second. He all but pleaded with them, "please, can't you guys talk about this later, I just want to know he's alive before trying to figure

out the why."

They all gave in at once, no one made a move to stop Harry as he feverishly reached for the book for some kind of answer.

Sirius shifted restlessly in place, making an agitated noise that he couldn't say his favorite joke because he wanted to hear more desperately about Arthur living.

James was uneasy about letting Harry read, so much so he couldn't even sit back down as Harry read feverishly. Just trying to utter the last name of his best friend nearly sent him into a panic attack all over again. He controlled himself clearly by the barest second, his dominant fear winning out of getting his confirmation Arthur would survive, they all needed to know that.

Harry stuttered hard over that for a moment, and none of them could understand what he'd almost said until he stuttered again over the next line.

"Harry, please," Lily pleaded. She'd yet to move away from him either, hovering right next to his shoulder, her nails digging into him in her effort to show he wasn't alone in this, he'd never be alone so long as he was here.

Harry took a moment to cover her hand in his, thinking back to all the times in his life where he'd wanted to hug someone but had never gotten himself to do it, considering how little kind physical contact he'd had in his life. It was easier then, to force himself to keep going, while her warmth kept it's pressure.

James mind couldn't help but flash to a happier time, of when Sirius had taken him to a Muggle mall and he'd started to feel overwhelmed by how different the place was from anything he knew. He'd ridden on an escalator for an hour just for the experience, Sirius giggling continuously at his side. What he would give to share that moment with Harry if he wasn't in such turmoil right now.

Sirius felt a shaky smile where one shouldn't be, but he couldn't help it. He'd been dragged to the Headmaster's office at this time once on the worst night of his life. He'd thought he'd gotten someone killed as well then. He'd heard the same thing and pieced together what the noise was as his brain struggled to think past the idea of what he'd almost done to Moony. The lackless humor was he wouldn't have even wanted to tell Harry this under normal circumstances, now even if he'd

had the nerve to, Harry wasn't listening to any of them.

Even Harry just trying to read this was sending him into another round of stuttering anger and fear all over again. It hadn't been a nightmare as everyone kept trying to say, it had been real! Yet no one in here had questioned that, they'd believed him the second they realized what was going on as true fact and he already knew they'd do anything to help him at that moment. McGonagall would to, and Dumbledore, even if the latter still wouldn't look at him!

Remus couldn't help an uneasy smile, finding that the most McGonagall could offer at the time as her show of support, relinquishing that.

Lily hadn't stopped shivering since her son had fallen asleep, her mind flickering to the last time he had back in Divination and that subsequent mess as well. The fact that her son was no longer safe, even at rest, made her want to weep for his life.

James felt such a white hot flash of rage, he knew he would have decked Dumbledore right there. His son was panicking and desperate for someone to understand what was happening,

Dumbledore was probably the only one who could right then, and the man couldn't bother to look at him! He didn't care Dumbledore's reason, none was good enough for this act!

Remus felt his mouth snap open, the urge to start shouting only just being suppressed by Harry's desperate voice filling the room. This didn't make sense, why was this Dumbledore's priority?!

"I'm sure Harry would know if I'd been involved," Sirius said at once, his voice far too strained for his preferred joke to hold anything. Infact, Sirius winced and felt all the worse for doing it as Harry flashed him such a look of panic, he hadn't wanted to put the idea in Harry's head, but those dark green eyes now somehow managed to look more panicky than ever. It looked as if he were trying to stop himself from screaming in fright as he turned his head back to the book, somehow more anxious now than ever.

In some distant part of his brain, Harry almost felt bad for those around him, all of whom looked ready to break something any second. The fear they all felt through him for Arthur's well being, his confusion and anger at Dumbledore growing more every second. He'd have never wanted them to feel all he was, yet at the same time it was making this whole thing bearable. At his time no one had seemed to grasp his panic, anything he'd been feeling at the time, but now all four of them certainly seemed to.

Normally Harry would have been distracted for the question that popped to his mind, a second of breathing space to ask if anyone had any idea what Dumbledore was suddenly doing, but Harry just didn't care. He couldn't bring himself to pause for a single second, not until he had confirmation Arthur was alive.

That did catch Harry's attention though, now that he realized this was about Arthur, and looked wildly around for some kind of explanation.

"When a portrait has a duplicate, it can travel between the two, completely out of its vicinity of the nearest portrait like a normal one." Sirius swiftly responded in as much of an apology he could offer for his earlier crack. "There's one in my place actually, that's also in that office. Old headmaster, Phineas Nigellus."

Harry knew that fact should have felt more interesting, would have been fascinating to think about further in any other circumstances. Now he easily put together these portraits must house somewhere in the Ministry and just wanted to keep going.

James felt that smile somewhere deep in him, pride for his son putting that together in the face of his stress. The fact that Harry always managed to remain so level headed and wasn't having an outright fit, a pure babbling mess like he had every right to be, made him as proud as a father could be.

"Oh, so Dumbledore can still bother explaining some things! Good to know his priorities are to teach you rather than bother looking at you, or tell you something important, not a history lesson is what's needed now!" Lily seethed.

Sirius was fidgeting so hard in place it would have been hard for Harry to concentrate any other time, but Harry had yet been so focused on the printed words before. Still, it was a minor distraction that had a small part of him trying to comprehend other things, like how Dumbledore may not have acknowledged him because he in fact knew exactly where Arthur was...

Remus wanted to chuckle at that, make the observation that it was the conjurer of the chair that made its appearance and how fascinating the differences were between McGonagall and

Dumbledore, but it felt impossible to even find the words to begin on such a mundane subject right now.

Harry gaped at that line, the memory of seeing Dumbledore paying more attention to this than him somehow making this situation feel worse every second. Who cared about essences divided, was it really more important that what was going on in an innocents man life who may die? Why was Dumbledore just sitting there and doing nothing but playing with a toy?

"Why do they bother!?" The question burst out of Harry so violently they wouldn't have been surprised to see sparks come shooting out of his wand. James even had the mad desire to ask

where that was, hopefully not next to his buttock, though more likely it had singed his jeans- "So what if I know they're awake?"

He hadn't meant to practically shout that at them, but the silence was becoming oppressive, there and then. He just wanted one answer that made sense, was that too much to ask for?

"Because they think it's funny." Remus easily met Harry's eyes and for a moment started babbling out an answer again, and this now familiar sight gave Harry a chance to breath in relief as he kept going for a moment. "Like all the portraits, they're main existence is to collect gossip, even the Headmaster's aren't immune to that, so they think if they feign disinterest like this you'll keep talking and ignore them-"

"Moony," James quickly inserted before he went into a full blown tangent. "You once swore you were going to blow up everyone of them in the castle after they spread a particular rumor about

you, I think you're taking that one a little personally."

"I would never," he said without a hint of remorse. "Besides, I was only a second year, I was a tad dramatic at the time."

"At the time?" James sarcastically repeated.

"The rumor was about someone he had a crush on," Sirius said conspiratorially to Harry and Lily. "Personally I thought the portraits didn't care that much, but Moony still swears he heard the whisper."

Harry finally realized what they were doing. So long as he didn't ask them to stop they would have kept going like this as long as he needed. A detachment, a moment to realize the return of his memories were only just that and these things had already happened, so his worrying about them wouldn't make it better when he got an answer. He appreciated it more than he could put into words, and yet he did want to still keep going. The distraction had worked, and while still angry and frightened over his past, he couldn't avoid it no matter how much he was scared of the answer.

Whatever temporary relief Harry had gained vanished again that moment. He'd have given anything to take it back, to never have done this to someone he cared so much about...

James made a breathy noise he couldn't deny was a muffled yelp of concern. He'd never even met Arthur, but he couldn't help feeling such deep care for a person Harry did.

Remus shivered in fright of being awoken to that kind of news.

"I can only imagine," Lily whispered, keeping her hand on her son's shoulder and looking sharply around the room at her family.

Lily imagined the late hour all of this was taking place, but then thought Dumbledore was still likely right. If Arthur was out on some Order mission, she'd be waiting up for him to come home, oh the poor dear sitting all alone and seeing the hands of that clock move...

'Wonder if her kids at school are always on that around Umbridge.' Sirius couldn't help the errant thought even as he was so intensely focused on Harry.

Lily pressed a shaking hand to her mouth, tears stinging at her eyes as she could only imagine the pain Molly would be in for that coming to life, something you couldn't just magic away. It wasn't going to happen though, it couldn't, Arthur wasn't going to die and leave his family like that...

"Finally," James muttered as he shifted his weight. A portkey had been made, that meant someone was finally going somewhere. Arthur was at St. Mungo's, and he would come back out of there!

So now Harry and Dumbledore should be headed there when he was awake, and Dumbledore could explain more to Harry in the meantime.

Sirius asked in agitation for his being brought up even while he frowned in confusion what Dumbledore was up to with him.

"I can see the family resemblance," Lily muttered under her breath soft enough Sirius wouldn't hear her, a good call as James gave her the stank eye for that joke for Sirius.

Sirius looked genuinely touched for a moment he was getting passed along the message about Arthur. He hadn't even crossed his own mind yet, what was going on here? Still, it also raised

confusion as much as anything, wasn't getting to Arthur more important than passing along the message of where he was?

"See Moony, not all portraits are bad," James said at an attempt at his conversational tone of voice. He failed, but it was a good try.

Remus didn't bother responding.

Harry wished he could have kept the topic alive for even a moment, to ask if magic would even work for a painting, but now had never been a worse time.

"Ah," Sirius muttered with comprehension. So he was a convenient place then, good to know his real usefulness to Dumbledore.

Remus frowned with an extra layer of worry as something dark passed Sirius' face for what he would have thought Sirius would be happy about, but he hadn't the time to ask for now. The

closer they were to hearing Arthur was okay, the better.

"Who would be there that wasn't a coast clear?" James asked in confusion.

Remus suddenly shivered in fear, the thought striking him if this was an Order attack and Arthur wasn't the only one in danger. If perhaps somehow Death Eaters had gotten the location of The Burrow and Grimmauld place and others should now be fearing a snake attack. He refused to voice that aloud though, crossing his fingers he was being paranoid instead.

"I'd let her come, I need someone to vent on," James said irrationally.

Sirius managed some kind of his old, rebellious smile that he once would have used while being given a compliment.

Harry couldn't do it anymore. Too many things poured up inside of him as he dropped the book and pulled away from his mother, from all of them in anger as he shouted, "you lied! What the

bloody hell was that then! There's something wrong, in me that-" he cut off with a cry of pain, his mind fit to burst right out of his skull it was pulsing so hard.

"Harry, no-" Lily had tried to cut him off at once, she wouldn't believe that for a second, but then they all froze in fright as Harry remained frozen. For one heart stopping moment they feared he'd finally done it, said something he shouldn't have that pushed his memories in too fast. They didn't understand what he could have meant, but the stark look of pain on him had yet been rivaled.

His exhale was the only thing that let the others breath, his eyes still screwed up in pain, but for now he was at least still alive. Probably fearing permanent brain damage, Lily was now being more persistent than ever in forcing her only child to look at her, and when he finally did she nearly collapsed herself in relief. "Harry love, please, you must stop! We're going to get through this, but we can only do that if you live through it."

Her voice broke, but it was clear he'd gotten the message as shame crossed his face. He'd only been thinking about himself, what he could have done, but what Lily had said made him realize this was about much more. "I'm sorry." The whispered apology didn't begin to cover how he felt for doing this to them, but it was the only thing he managed to string together.

"You should be," she agreed, though there wasn't a sharp edge in her voice. "Scaring the piss out of us, do you want me to have a heart attack at my age?"

He wanted to apologize again, but seemed aware of what that would get him, so instead he simply met all of their eyes until he felt his breath return. There was no true ease to his shoulders as he went back for the book, but he also knew he could manage to keep going so long as they truly couldn't hate him for this, whatever this was.

As if Harry hadn't suffered enough in the span of these few minutes since Arthur's problem started, somehow Harry still managed to look worse because of this. His hands were shaking as he held them against his head, as if forcing it to remain intact. They couldn't understand why, what about Sirius shouting at Kreacher would cause something even worse than Arthur's condition in his head? Yet he couldn't do it, not moments after what he'd nearly done to himself. Remembering something even a second early would probably cause him to finally overload, no matter how important it was to his life, so he clung to the warmth around him and forced his eyes open, glaring daggers at the book for causing all this, and yet forcing through another page because it was the only kind of answer he could offer.

Even in the throes for his worry of Arthur, James still held plenty for his own friend. How was it possible Sirius sounded worse every time he was mentioned?

Harry couldn't help wincing again, thinking back to all of the accusatory looks, that's certainly what they'd felt like to him at the time. He knew he couldn't keep going on his own now more than ever, not having to see that imaged into anyone in here.

His mother's touch was growing painful again, with worry Harry understood for what she didn't know what was happening to him. He'd have given anything to be able to tell her, but his aching

head made it clear he wouldn't be doing that without paying the ultimate price. This way may be slower, but it was the only one he had.

"You're imagining that," Remus said at once. "I wouldn't believe for a second they'd think anymore of you than us, not as well as they know you."

Harry couldn't bring himself to even look at him hopefully, not after Percy, and yet something of this cut him worst of all. If the twins, if Ginny really thought he'd done this...

"Sirius!" Lily snapped at him in protest. She wouldn't have even stopped for a cloak if that had been her dad in the hospital, what did he think he was doing?

Sirius looked rather confused himself why he wasn't running out the door right behind them.

"Oh," they all muttered, just as shocked as they were impressed Sirius was thinking ahead like that. Yet it did nothing to improve anyone's mood, never enjoying the reminder of how much

Sirius had changed, even in his level headedness.

"Thanks Padfoot," Harry whispered, blinking slowly so as not to start crying on top of everything. It was still so new to him, to realize Sirius was still putting his well being above someone else's.

Sirius just hummed. His eyes still dark enough saying he may feel bad about making this call, but he didn't regret it for a second, not with Harry's safety on the line. If that meant forcing the Weasley kids to hate him instead of letting them tear off, putting his godson in danger, he'd do it again.

"They don't mean that," James said at once, but not as if he really thought it was true. He couldn't imagine how he'd be feeling, would he put someone else's life at risk to make it to Sirius at this time? It bothered him he wasn't really sure of that answer.

Remus was fidgeting in unease, still unsure of just where any of them would have been in this situation. What if tomorrow this happened to James, would Sirius still maintain this above being

there for him? Remus couldn't believe so, and it felt like an out of body experience to see Padfoot so much older, for the first time really adding up that Sirius was older than James would ever be.

Lily had been near tears for a while now, and that nearly did her in. How hardened Sirius had become, whereas now he looked offended by his own words. He'd have never said a thing like

that today, but clearly thirteen years away from his family put quite a dark shading on his world.

Remus never would have believed he'd have the urge to hit one of the twins before now, and yet that had certainly done it. Yet at the same time, it suddenly made him flash back to Molly as well,

her anger at Sirius and saying much the same hateful things to him. Coming from her had been the worst thing the woman could have done, and yet somehow Fred saying that finally made Remus

realize Molly had been speaking out of love that night. Sirius was still an outsider to this family that Harry wasn't. Didn't make his urge to hit him any less.

"You have far more restraint than I do," James seethed, only just managing to bottle up his yelling for Fred because his son still reading all of this in the most detached voice ever was far more important, and despite some kind of acceptance Harry had reached, he was still on the verge of a panic attack any second if he didn't get some kind of answer about Arthur, so getting to that was

much more important.

"Honestly, a brawl would have done them some good, let out some energy," James grumbled.

"Harry and Sirius against the twins though, do we really need another reason to visit the hospital," Lily scowled at him.

Harry frowned at the lot of them, he couldn't imagine having to pick a side for either of those fights and was quite glad it hadn't come to that.

James could only wish that Harry wasn't still thinking the same, but he couldn't force himself to ask either, because he couldn't decide which would be worse. If Harry continued blaming himself,

they had no way to comfort him it wasn't true other than their promise, and that just didn't seem to be enough for him this time. Even if he had accepted this though, then what had happened?!

"Of course it is Harry," Lily snapped at once, her voice louder than she meant it to be in order to make sure Harry understood this. "You saved his life by making sure someone found out so

quickly-"

Harry kept reading loudly around her, he couldn't yet wrap his brain around that enough to believe her.

Lily shook her head miserably, her hand switching from his shoulder to comb through his messy hair as she kept her perch on the arm of the sofa. The only comfort she had left was that he wasn't still trying to draw away from her touch, yet his constantly thinking this was bad enough James still wouldn't find a place to sit, shifting his weight restlessly and glancing at the book as if prepared to snatch it away from Harry any moment. They couldn't stand watching him like this, but they had no other options.

"No Harry," Sirius whispered, trying for comfort rather than force this time. "The, vision, whatever it was, just happens to be lingering worse than the others. You were still left feeling the effects of it, like you are now, but that doesn't mean it's still happening to you, do you feel like a snake right now?"

Faulty logic though it was, somehow Harry still managed a smile even for a second at Sirius, shaking his head in exasperation while he kept going.

Sirius fidgeted hard in agitation he hadn't done something, said something to Harry in his own time yet. Why the hell hadn't he pulled his godson aside, to ask if he was okay? Was he really just sitting there moping while these poor kids were going out of their mind with worry? Surely he was still aware enough to at least offer up something?

Harry shivered again at the end of the note, the book more in danger of nearly slipping out of his grasp again every second because he couldn't make it stop. He just wanted all of this to stop.

Remus glanced to Sirius in concern for the agitated noise he made, saw Sirius was grinding his teeth in frustration and Remus realized he was just as frustrated as Harry at his inability to do anything helpful, now and then.

"Oh thank Merlin!" Lily breathed, finally sagging in some kind of relief. Harry looked so elated at the news he nearly fell off his seat. Finally he could breathe again, something he was sure he hadn't done since the start of that dream. It did not make the events more bearable, made none of his fears escape about his hand in it, but he still clung tight to the knowledge he had not been a hand, or fang, in someone's death.

Harry shivered hardest of all, a walk over the grave feeling trying to restrict his lungs and some horrifying image floating just behind his conscience, ready to pounce the moment he let his guard down. He couldn't though, not now. So Kreacher had ignored Sirius, surely that wasn't unheard of for the elf who hated his master. He glanced at the others, but none of them had even so much as blinked at this, which convinced him enough to go on, not knowing they just hadn't thought of it odd for one second in their relief of the news.

Harry stuttered in a new kind of surprise, but beside him his mum hummed softly, her nails not even hesitating as she kept messing with his hair. "Now how can you still think you'd done this?" She demanded, the love in her voice still unmistakable to Harry's shock. "Surely if this woman thought for a second you had this would not be her response. We can't all be wrong about this."

He still sat there, flabbergasted for a moment as he tried to understand how Mrs. Weasley, how all of them could be so sure of this?

"What does this have to do with Sturgis?" James' face puckered with confusion.

"He was at the Ministry when he shouldn't be," Lily reminded, frowning at him in confusion for how he'd forgotten this fact.

"Yes," he agreed, "but Arthur works there. I can't imagine how far fetched it would be for this to have happened there, but this wasn't at the Ministry. I thought this had to do with whatever the Order was guarding."

Lily blinked in realization that the two indeed did not line up with what had been on Molly's mind.

That left them all stumped for a moment, but one worried glance at Harry frowning as he tried to understand as well put them a bit back into panicky, they didn't want Harry thinking about

anything he shouldn't be so Remus quickly offered, "Molly's a worry wart, we all know that, she was probably just drawing a line where one wasn't needed, fearing Arthur would get in trouble for this job like Sturgis did for some other Order job."

Harry's frown didn't quite vanish, because Harry just knew his gut was telling him Remus was entirely wrong on that, but for now he wasn't going to harp on it. No matter how important this

was, and he could feel deep in his soul it was of the utmost important to his life, this matter could wait just a while longer until his head stopped aching so much from his experience today.

"Miracles do happen," Lily shook her head fondly at these two finally finding some common ground in helping out these kids.

Sirius couldn't help a little keening noise of worry. He didn't like it took Harry pulling him aside, to say what he was sure was coming. He should have been the one to do this for Harry. He

wouldn't have forced him to talk to him, but even giving his pup the option would have made him feel more useful than cooking breakfast!

Sirius snarled in outrage, startling the others badly, as they'd still been focused on Harry and worried he'd have a relapse into believing this to be true all over again.

"What is wrong with me! That is not the first thing I should have said! You didn't do it Harry, I know you didn't!"

Harry watched Sirius with honest concern. Sirius looked as ready to hit his breaking point as Harry just had, his odd behavior finally pushing his godfather to his own outrage.

"Padfoot," James said so quietly it would have been impossible for him to hear even right next to him. James cleared his throat hard and said with more force, "Sirius, I know this is driving you crazy, but I don't blame you for that being your first question. If something was wrong with Harry, then the first person you'd ask is Dumbledore, I do get that."

"But why would I skip right to that!" He groaned, burying his face in his fingers. "Am I really more concerned with whatever the Order's doing than his well being?"

"No!"

The snap came from Harry of all people, who went cross eyed with pain, but shook his head quickly while waving them off and muttering, "I know, I swear I'm not remembering anything, I just know! Sirius knows something, and him asking that will make sense when we do too."

Sirius did not look convinced, but he kept himself pulled together from the force of Harry's confidence in this. Harry blinked in surprise as he realized this, some tiny part of his own resolve strengthened by the smallest amount as he realized he could do the same. If Sirius could just believe him on word like that, he should be able to do the same about the snake attack.

Sirius still made a guttural noise of anger, as of now unable to believe any explanation they'd find out would excuse him of just leaving Harry at a time like this. He couldn't look James in the face, he felt as ashamed of his life as Harry and wanted to walk out of the room as a failure to his godson for not being of any help to anyone! Yet the moment the thought crossed his mind, Harry finally leaned back into him. Instead of pulling away as he'd been doing since his fear of some snake, he pressed his knee beside his and kept going with the most calm he'd yet gathered in this chapter. Sirius forced himself to take comfort than even Harry just confiding in him had made him feel better, even if his own response hadn't been up to par.

James couldn't help a violent snort that wasn't really humorous at all as he looked at Harry for that one. "Unless you somehow achieved becoming an animagus without us knowing, or you are far

more advanced in Transfiguration than we realized, that one is impossible prongslet."

Harry still felt an itch under his skin, some deep part of him he couldn't understand that didn't make this feel so outlandish, but still he met his eyes desperately for some way out that didn't leave him breathless with fear. James still met his eyes, and if that was the only reassurance Harry could get for now, he'd take it with all the hope he had.

"A magical feat in itself," Sirius shook his head at the odd pair, his thoughts far more centered around where Remus was. He didn't like that he may be so out of touch he hadn't even gotten the message yet.

Harry was fidgeting in agitation again, this being the last thing he wanted to further discuss. He'd love to simply skip to the end of this chapter already, he'd gotten his answer and was now convinced Mr. Weasley did survive, now he didn't want anymore to do with this topic.

"Not that I'm aware," James said with force brightness that sounded like a bad Floo connection. "Unless Lily's been hiding something from me."

She gave him an exasperated look even as she couldn't help a genuine smile for her husband. There was that love of her life still trying to make others smile.

"Well I guess that's better than worried, so she's doing some good," Remus tried in vain for a smile.

Harry was twitching in unease again, thinking it would be even more useful if he could somehow influence it for good, to have forced the snake to not attack. Until then he couldn't find it very helpful at all, especially if the side effects would continue leaving him convinced he'd done these things. He still hadn't entirely ruled that out no matter what those around him said.

"I'm sure that looks rather frightening to Muggles," Lily murmured, knowing she'd have likely thought him a mad bomber with that description.

"Better than what he'd protect them from," Sirius shrugged.

Harry just paused as he always did, looking to them with happiness that they could still find such mundane things to comment on, it really was the best part of his continuing.

James frowned at the idea, he'd never been. When his parents had become ill they'd have a nurse visiting his place to tend to them, but he couldn't imagine his folks blending in with their disease through a Muggle inhabited area. He supposed they could have charmed themselves, but the amount of energy that would have taken on top of them being sick still seemed odd to him. He

knew that you could Floo there in case of emergency though, so perhaps that was the more likely option if it was too severe, like they most likely had done for Arthur.

Sirius felt only a semi-hysterical giggle for Harry's lack of faith in magic persisting even at this age.

"Oh yes, that was the important part," Remus managed an almost natural chuckle that time to cover his newly strained smile. Sirius gave him a concerned look for that, but Remus gave no

indication he was going to elaborate.

"One of these days that'll stop surprising you," Lily told him fondly.

"Though hopefully none soon," James continued to watch the surprise on Harry's face with amusement. He never thought he could smile again after what he'd just watched Harry go through,

but finally here was something he'd never get tired of seeing, his sons wonder at magic he'd never stopped to feel.

"How on earth do they just walk past muggles to talk to a dummy?" Harry asked, forcing far more bemusement into him than he really felt. He could not just sit around thinking about his attack without possibly causing himself another fit, so thinking about anything else would have to be a must for now.

James explained his idea of what he'd been thinking earlier, and Harry finally looked interested in this topic enough that when he turned back to the book, he actually didn't look like he was reading a horror story.

Lily spluttered in concern for that, demanding, "just what has Ron been told about that?"

"Never heard of them," James said honestly.

"They're, well, Muggle Healers," Lily struggled to think of a better way to explain that wouldn't confuse him about medicine he'd have no clue about.

James looked satisfied enough with the answer though, while Harry actually giggled for a moment for the exchange between them before telling his mum, "I've never mentioned them, but maybe Hermione said something once that gave him the wrong impression."

Feeling more angry at Dumbledore than ever, Lily wanted to yank that portrait down and shove it in the nearest bin for someone still managing to find a way to spy on her son.

"I can see how kind and helpful she'll be already," Sirius said with interest. Maybe he should get into nursing if he could talk to people like that.

Remus rolled his eyes, sadly knowing exactly where Sirius' thoughts were by that comment alone.

"Why on earth would you come in for uncontrollable giggling?" James happily interrupted. "I'd just ask where I can get that?"

Lily brushed her hand one more time over her son lovingly, but finally he seemed at peace enough that her hovering over him wasn't strictly necessary, so she went over and gave James a light swat for the crack.

"Delighted isn't the word I'd use," Remus said darkly under his breath, having dealt with quite a few nurses in his youth, and he wouldn't have classified a single one of them kind or helpful when tending his wounds.

Harry felt an odd buzzing on the edge of his mind, some warning for a name he had no clue of. Looking around he didn't see anyone who would either, so he had not one thing helpful to link

this together.

"Bummer, I feel like that would have been an interesting story," James said conversationally.

"Wasn't that the Quidditch player eaten by a chimera?" James asked in surprise.

"That's probably why she got a ward for dangerous named after her," Lily muttered.

Sirius snorted violently while chancing a grin at Remus, who responded with such a scowl at Sirius he didn't dare go through with his joke.

The four who weren't reading exchanged a wordless look. It seemed impossible Harry didn't realize by now he'd been included in that family first comment.

Sirius was alternately frowning from the book to Remus now, stumped and therefore very agitated he couldn't put together what had Moony so bothered about this place, it was clear enough to him he recognized the set up, but when had he ever been here?

"Everyone looks peaky in a hospital," Lily muttered with an anxious glance at Remus. Only three days after a full moon and he still looked rather worn himself no matter how much Lily tried to give him extra at meals. She imagined he'd look even worse laid out in a hospital bed rather than comfortably sitting next to his friend.

"I do adore Arthur's spirit," James chuckled, happily cheering on the man making those around him feel better while he was clearly still ill.

Harry had to force himself not to reach up and rub at his teeth, to still convince himself they would not extend into those very fangs that had done so much damage.

Remus had to force himself not to demand of no one in here what Nagini was. He'd been fascinated by the idea of her since he'd first heard of her, though would happily study a severed head for what it had done to Arthur, not all creatures needed to be alive to be studied.

Remus winced so hard Sirius was now quite glad he'd stopped himself mocking that sign, which he now realized Remus had probably seen abundantly in his childhood. If in fact he'd been in that very same ward when all this was happening to him before he went to Hogwarts, the memories that were probably going through Moony's mind right now because of this.

He glanced anxiously at him but Remus was forcing his face to remain fixed of any emotion, he wouldn't let his friends see how much the idea of going back to that place bothered him. He wasn't a little kid anymore.

"Hey!" James snapped in outrage, and he was just starting to like her again.

"Oh stop, the lot of you," Remus said in exasperation before anyone could get started. "You know full well that's how normal people react to finding out that news."

"Are you insinuating we're not normal?" Lily mock frowned at him, while really she was watching him steadily to see how much that really bothered him. A lot more than he would admit, she could tell that much.

"I know none of you are," he said testily, waving Harry on impatiently, knowing there weren't words for how grateful he was for the truth of that.

Remus looked half aghast half mildly amused at such a kind hearted way to put that, wondering just how much he put up in front of the Order for Arthur to think such a thing. While James and Sirius had known him for seven years and wouldn't even think something so candid after watching him adjust to daily life even after all these years, month after month.

Harry wondered if he was supposed to laugh or not, took one glance at Remus, and most definitely decided not.

"So Hagrid isn't the only one out there insane enough to do that," Remus said forcefully, in an oh so subtle attempt to change the subject.

"Thankfully he at least has never suffered that bad because of it," Lily murmured with worry for the poor woman. Not telling what had bit her could be very dangerous while they treated her. She was risking more than her leg by not telling.

Harry fidgeted with unease for that though, he just couldn't believe Arthur had fallen asleep on the job like that, something else must be going on there.

Harry took a long moment to just stare at what Mr. Weasley had almost said, and then glanced up to find the other's jaw open with surprise.

"It, did happen, inside, the Ministry," Lily put together slowly.

"But that's insane, I mean, that's means-" James struggled to get out a coherent sentence.

"The thing the Order's guarding is inside the Ministry," Sirius finished for him breathlessly.

"What other choice is there?" Remus' face was scrunched up as he tried to think of an alternative, because this made no sense. "Both Molly and now Arthur's comments, and now Podmore's

mission of getting onto the Ministry's bad side as well, all three of these together can't really be read much any other way. Yet what-"

"But what though!" Harry was practically bursting with excitement as much as fear. "What's the Ministry got that Voldemort wants? What-"

"Deep breaths Harry," Sirius quickly went to patting Harry on the shoulder, to rein him in. "We still don't even know that we're right."

Harry did though, he could feel it. They had put this together, even just the smallest part. There was some other connection to, a big one he was missing, that had something to do with his

dream...but now the others were looking at him almost anxiously, clearly wanting him to go on far more than sit around and let him think about something that could hurt him again so soon after things had gone back to whatever semblance of normal this was. Harry couldn't fight them, he still wanted to be done with this too much, to have a moment to consider other more serious problems, and he couldn't do that with them watching him.

James began snickering uncontrollably that Fred had essentially finished his father's sentence.

"More like ever," Sirius sighed for the poor twins, and Harry, and by extension them, never getting to know anything,

Harry frowned severely at that, something about this little bit rubbing him the wrong way he couldn't quite place his finger on, but it had something to do with one of his problems back at school...

"Credit for determination," Remus gave a breathy laugh, something he never thought he'd manage while in mention of that place, but the twins weren't holding up to the anger they'd caused against Sirius earlier.

They all laughed lightly for Arthur's never ending enthusiasm. Lily thinking back to that sign at the beginning, and if she was remembering correctly, they may very well be on the same floor as Arthur, depending on if those doorknobs had classified as 'bites' or the fourth if they counted as an unfixable jinx.

All five of them were laughing freely now, unbelievably a calm air finally wafting back through the room. They'd never have believed the twins could do it, but they had managed to make all of them laugh again after something so traumatic to Harry. All because they refused to listen to their mother.

"Yes!" Sirius cheered. "Alright you two, no knocking of Fred now, he's earned back his jab at me for this!"

James and Remus exchanged a calculating look as they honestly considered this, but if Sirius forgave him then they'd be willing to let slide with a mild smack upside the head now.

"That logic," Lily said drolly as she rolled her eyes while all boys grinned in agreement.

Lily's eyes flashed with her own healthy amount of venom, near foaming at the mouth with anger, "what's Dumbledore's right to spread that around! If he can't even be bothered to explain to Harry how this could be happening, how dare he go telling the rest of the Order this!"

"Trust me Lily, I'd love to let you give him a piece of your mind," James promised, making no move to stop her, knowing it would be futile. "The man hasn't actually done it to him yet though, it may be just a touch preemptive to murder him for this now."

Lily glowered at him for a moment before crossing her arms, which was all the agreement she could offer for now.

James looked as outraged as Lily just had. Moody had been his role model these past few months in the Order, someone to look to to understand how to handle the war around him. Now he was

more sure than ever he wanted to deck Alastor for saying that about his son.

Harry's eyes went so wide they nearly fell out of his head, only managing to finish the last line before the shock set in.

"I-" his voice broke, and then failed. He kept gazing at the print like his death sentence, clearly convinced now more than ever of his past.

"Harry no," Sirius groaned, fighting back the urge to rip that thing to shreds for doing this to him after they'd just been getting through to him how impossible that was.

Harry didn't want to listen, he couldn't even look him in the face as he thrust the book away, "just keep going, please. Mr. Weasley's still in the hospital and-"

"Arthur is fine," Lily insisted, taking the book away and trying to look him in the face, as he childishly turned his face away again. "He's going to make it. He's healthy and alive and you need to take a break. Everything's going to be okay, you're going to make it through this. We're going to understand what really happened, I know you will. I can't stand you keep thinking like that, a couple hours away from this will do you some good."

Harry looked pleadingly with her, finally meeting her eyes for one second, but he had no more heart to argue. He got to his feet and left the room, Lily trying to go after him, she hadn't wanted him to just leave like that, but James caught her and whispered, "you said it yourself dear, give him a moment." He no more wanted to himself than to hold Lily back, but if they kept dogging Harry and forcing themselves to be around him, they may lose his trust in another way.

It took all of her self control to give him fifteen minutes before she went after him, but when she knocked and there was no answer, she poked her head in and saw him passed out asleep. She

closed her eyes and let a tear fall for her child, before leaving him in whatever peace he could find in his dreams, at least in this timeline.

Harry felt bad for deceiving his mother, but he just couldn't stand to be in the same room with them, he was honestly considering just leaving. What had he done for them since his time here but make them miserable, just as he'd always done to the Dursley's life. He felt like a plague, everywhere he went someone always paid for it. Even the Weasley's had befallen his curse, Ginny had been taken into the Chamber because of him, Arthur and Molly only seemed to be in the Order because of him and look where that landed them. He even got another sting from his memories yet returned, a promise this was not the last time their family would be in danger because of being around him, just associating with him.

If he simply vanished now, away from this new family he'd almost had, could he save them?

Surely if he left for good they'd be free of this place, his very presence was even holding them prisoner, how they didn't already hate him for this he had no answer for. He could kill Pettigrew himself and they'd stay safe. He was even confident, in the recesses of his mind, he could find a way to kill Voldemort. He'd take the books with him to, to find out these answers that were ruining his family's life, then they'd never have to suffer anymore because of him...

He was too strung together, from worry, pain, and fear to actually feel the exhaustion working it's way past his plans.

His body continued to tremble as the flashes of light around him, gold, green, and red all blurred together and always that echoing whisper he had to run, to get Cedric's body back while

Voldemort whispered a promise for his death.

"Harry?"

It all went black, and that morphed into a door in a long dark corridor. He had to hurry, otherwise he'd die-

"Harry-"

"Sirius!"

He jolted upright in bed, clinging at once to the person he could feel bent over him, but was startled to recognize another voice saying, "alright, I'll go get him. Come on, he's just downstairs-"

"No," Harry quickly said, shaking his head and forcing himself to blink around the room and look instead into his dad's pale face. His grip didn't lessen one bit as he said more quietly but with just as much force, "no, that's alright. Just a bad dream I'm sure, I-" he broke off and rubbed furiously at his sweat soaked cheek, his other hand still hooked onto his dad who kept rubbing a comforting hand mussing up his hair. It was only as his breaths returned to normal did he realize how childish

the whole thing would look, and he dropped his own hand, trying to straighten himself up more and glancing at him sheepishly. "Sorry I woke you up," he murmured, noting he was now in night

things and how much time must have passed.

"Don't be," James said at once, watching Harry in surprise that's what had come out. "After everything you've been through, honestly it's a wonder you get any sleep."

Harry would not be comforted as chills continued all along him, his voice kept coming out quiet and more intense all the time, "it's just that dream about Mr. Weasley, there's something even

worse about to happen, and it's about that, gah if only I could rememb-"

"Stop," James insisted, catching Harry's shoulders and waiting for them to meet eyes. He sat quickly on the edge of his bed, forcing Harry to keep eye contact as he saw him start to glance

away again. "Please, you're going to hurt yourself for something that-"

"Don't tell me it'll all work out!" Harry snapped, his eyes shining too bright now. "I wish you'd all stop saying it was okay just because I live, that doesn't make it okay!"

James closed his mouth, almost ashamed by what he'd been fixing to say now because of Harry's sharp words, and instead just pulled his son into a hug. He ignored how his shoulder continued

growing more wet, wouldn't bother with any more trivial promises, he just silently promised by refusing to move away he wouldn't leave Harry alone with this.

HPPHPHPHPHP

*My full idea of this scenario is possibly Malfoy cursing him as he left for the day, like we know he did before in casting the Imperius curse on someone randomly there and catching Sturgis.

Arthur fell, the invisibility cloak partially slipped off, and rather than killing him and leaving a body on top of letting Nagini sneak in, he simply let the snake in and intended to dispose of Arthur after he got the Prophecy. If he'd done all this before he'd gotten it, if he'd been interrupted, it would have been harder to play off a dead body rather than an unconscious one. Instead, after Nagini bit him, Malfoy vamoused with her as a failed plan. Not a particularly flawless plan, but I just can't imagine Arthur falling asleep on the job like that.

** This always fascinated me. I picked this line apart for ages upon my first reading of the book to understand what that meant, and I'm still not convinced I do understand it. What even is that instrument?! Does it somehow confirm that Harry is part of Voldemort's soul? Does it really say Harry's story is true and Voldemort and Harry were temporarily inside Nagini? Is it symbolic of Voldemort being on the move? Is it agreeing that Harry and Voldemort are part of the same whole? Is it just something to make us ask more questions we'll never get the answer to!? Ahem, sorry if that started to feel a tad rantish.

***Oh boy am I going to have some stuff to say about this moment in book seven!

****Did you realize if you put those words on a sign, they would read:

Creature Induced Injuries

Dangerous

Dai Llewellyn Ward

Serious Bites

Take the first word of each line: "Creature Dangerous Dai Serious"? Or - Kreacher Dangerous Die Sirius. Got to love JK's INSANE amount of attention to these things.

This is probably one of the longer author's notes I have, still not sorry, I love pointing these things out. Have a good day my lovely souls!


	23. CHRISTMAS ON THE CLOSED WARD

Harry couldn't do it. He'd realized last night, while taking whatever comfort he could in his father's embrace, he couldn't abandon his family, that was the coward's way out. While he'd been locked in the fear of what had happened to his past, his present had tried to remind him of everything he'd already lost. Where were Ron and Hermione? What if someone did come for him

here and he'd already made a run for it. His family was safe here, so long as this unexplained magic kept them all pinned in, of this he'd been sure of from the moment he'd opened his eyes.

Safe from him? He didn't yet have a real answer for that, but while looking into his father's eyes he'd found the one thing that could make him stay. Trust, James trusted him, and Harry couldn't bring himself to break that in his desire to save them. So faith then, he'd just have to trust in his parents and all of them that they'd find a way to get through this, like he somehow knew had been a solution more times than simply him on his own.

A lot of that had to do with the fact that he'd awoken the next morning to see his dad still at the end of his bed, holding his infant.

"You stayed in here all night?" He half demanded around a yawn, feeling just as embarrassed as he was touched.

James shrugged, the mostly sleepless not night affecting his grin one bit. "Little guy woke up about the time you nodded back off. Figured I should get used to it anyways, if I'm going to convince Lily any time soon about having more."

Harry had to clear his throat for another reason other than sleep before responding, "thanks." Then, clearly looking for a change of subject, asked, "anyone else up yet?"

"Lily's downstairs already making breakfast, I'm sure that's roused Sirius by now. We may have to set the couch on fire to get Moony up, but that's nothing new."

He said it so casually, but Harry still listened avidly to every detail of their day to day life. Not for the first time, he wished he could be doing something normal with them, just a chance to come home one day and share what he'd done at work. Yet he'd never gotten much by wishing.

The baby began fussing in agitation in James' arms, and so it didn't take much persistence for Harry to finally kick his dad out of the room so he could get himself ready for the day. Eerily he fit almost perfectly into his dad's clothes.

Even while watching them all interact over breakfast cemented in him he couldn't leave them. No matter how much he tried to justify it would do them more good without him around, he wasn't

fifteen anymore, no matter how much he may feel like it at times. He truly felt while watching Sirius fling a sausage at Remus who caught it in his mouth that he'd be better off with their help in

whatever would come when his life caught up to him.

The others didn't fail to notice Harry hadn't spoken a word all morning, but when Sirius made to say something and James kicked him under the table, they left it be for now, Lily less happily than the rest. She hated where they'd left off last night, but she was also well aware James had been with him all night. She found it clear something had happened between them and wasn't going to get in the way of that, yet, so she wasn't going to push him for now. When Remus settled into his seat from yesterday with the book, Lily made to put her infant back upstairs real quick, but was stopped by Harry.

"Let him stay," he offered quietly, but he was watching her with a smile again, the first sign of his interacting all morning. "I should still be on break for a while, so no Umbridge, nothing's going to happen to Arthur. He should be able to stay for at least a bit."

Lily only hesitated for a moment before sitting next to James without argument, her grin only increasing when Hickory came creeping in and curling up on her shoulder purring loudly as well.

Remus fidgeted for several more moments than was necessary before starting, but he wasn't exactly keen to go back to this either. It was hard to forget that the Order now currently thought

Voldemort was possessing Harry, but the worst part was they hadn't convinced Harry last night that just couldn't be true. He still wanted to try talking to him about it, but he had no words. He'd never believe it, but he couldn't just make Harry do the same, so he was forced to turn to this book for an answer just as he'd always done in the past, but now he was looking for something infinitely more important to him than just filler for an essay.

He chanced one more glance at Harry, who still looked drawn and too pale. For once he was the one glancing at the door every few moments, it wasn't hard to read that expression as one fighting

back the urge to bolt considering they'd all felt it a number of times. Yet he was staying put, the one person who could leave and feasibly they couldn't go after him, which meant they must have

done something right in convincing him to keep his seat close to his parents and right next to his godfather, so Remus began.

Harry shifted anxiously, he hadn't expected his resolve to crumple during the first line of the new chapter, but if he felt for one second they weren't safe here with him, that Voldemort powerful now could still cause that to happen to him-

Sirius surprised him by tapping him on the neck. He jerked automatically and balefully glared at Sirius, whose grin only widened at meeting his eyes. "Sorry pup, you've still got your mum's eyes, even if being hazel would have been cooler, than James really could have gotten away with naming you fully after him and we'd never tell the difference."

Lily scoffed slightly. She hadn't even originally had anything against naming their son a Jr. until Sirius had pointed that out, then she'd said no on principle for inflating her husband's ego that much more.

"There's some more nightmare fuel I needed," Remus rolled his eyes while trying to laugh that one off. It didn't work very well, but Harry almost smiled for the effort even as he rubbed at the back of his head in here as well.

Harry couldn't swallow for a moment, panic nearly seizing him whole once more as he couldn't erase the notion that was true on some level, but then all four of them made some noise of

disagreement at how ridiculous they found that, none to quietly. He didn't understand how it was possible to both believe in them so fully, and find it in himself to know that truth as well, but it was all in there.

Sirius shifted closer to Harry at once, anxiously keeping an eye on him even as he prepared a new line to keep him distracted for whatever nonsense his mind came up next. Couldn't they just go

back to a Quidditch game?

"Talk about your self importance," Sirius scoffed at once. "You're just the brat that got away, even I'm more likely to be important to him."

Harry's eyes nearly bugged out of his skull in alarm, and Sirius just sighed without satisfaction he clearly hadn't done much good in distracting Harry the right way.

"Oh Harry, now you're being ridiculous," James tried to scoff at. "You were being watched because they were worried about your safety. No one, not even Dumbledore, could have predicted this...thing you have with Voldemort would progress this far."

Harry felt that living ball of tension inside his gut somehow tighten at his father's words though, a pestering part of his mind telling him the exact opposite was true. Yet to go one second further into the thought would be another level of pain he wasn't prepared to deal with on top of his worst fears of turning into Voldemort any second, so he forced a painful smile into place and was relieved James didn't linger for a better response.

Harry had been have minor shivers since his dream last night, and they somehow managed to increase more every second as all of this came back. How sure he was of the truth of this, that the

connection between him and Voldemort would continue to grow until-

"Harry?"

His name echoed oddly in his head as if from a long ways off, but the maternal tone caught him by surprise until he looked around and met his mothers eyes, looked at all of them and realized no

matter what happened to him they were still going to continue to watch him with that same worry.

Lily wanted to suggest the same thing, but she worried he'd only use it as another excuse to avoid them, and he couldn't just do that for the remainder of his time here. Of all the horrible things she'd seen happen to her son, she could only understand why he would treat this as the worst yet, but she had nothing to compare the feeling to, and it pained her he was clearly feeling so alone with this.

"Clearly alone was the last thing you needed to be right now," Remus sighed, glancing worriedly at Sirius, expecting him to come pounding in the room any second and demand to know what was

wrong with Harry, just as he always did in situations where he knew someone he cared about was upset.

"Let me finish," Remus said before he could let anyone he could feel fixing to interrupt him.

"Harry, now you're just panicking," Lily strained to keep her voice light as she tried to catch his eye. "There is no way to get in and out of Hogwarts without Dumbledore allowing so, certainly not apparition which is the only way he could have done that to you."

"Even then," Remus eagerly jumped in when he saw Harry finally starting to regain just one shade of color in the face of this logic. "Why would he? There's not a reason I can think of he'd

take you on some attack spree, he'd rather have you killed on the spot, and then why put you back?"

Harry opened his mouth, the panic clearly still bubbling just under the surface of his glasses, but with each blink they watched it dim just one small bit. When finally it was clear he either couldn't, or wouldn't answer, Remus kept going, but now that they were finally starting to counter his desperate ramblings he felt just his own twinge of hope they could get through to Harry and he could stop looking an inch away from snapping.

"Definitely not," Sirius scoffed. "There's no way he know's any such thing without having done something long before now, you squash resistance as soon as you know about it rather than letting it fester and grow."

"Even if he's just waiting for an ambush?" Harry demanded, a hint of hope finally in his voice.

"Voldemort rarely does ambushes," James assured. "He likes to pick off one by one, and he clearly hasn't done that yet."

Harry shifted restlessly, but didn't hold back the idea of, "Podmore?"

"While something clearly did happen there," James agreed, his brow ruffling again in frustration for lack of that news, "it's certainly not Voldemort's style to try getting people sent to Azkaban. If the goal was to be rid of him, he'd be gone."

Harry nodded slowly, unable to entirely erase the sensation that Podmore had been some failed plan of Voldemort's, but his dad was right as well at the same time, so this must mean something.

"As you said yourself, wasn't anything anyone couldn't have figured out on their own. We already know Voldemort is at least aware of some of the things Dumbledore's got cooking," Lily

reminded, even just scratching off these little things seemed to be helping Harry realize the idea with his overall fear. Discrediting them one by one would help him to pull back and realize none of this was possible.

"Harry!" All four of them said in exasperation, and concern as they realized why he was so constantly glancing anxiously at the door. His thoughts usually seemed to parallel in here what they had at that age, and if he'd really gone through with that-

"I didn't do it, did I?" he sighed, forcing himself to stop looking there now. While he'd talked himself out of it, it had yet made him feel any safer about being around them, his only consolation being his scar hadn't hurt once while he was here. Oh he remembered the pain more vividly than practically anything, but it had not yet in fact stung him once. If that wasn't even happening, then surely these other things wouldn't begin yet either.

"Congratulations on not being a hypocrite," Sirius said sourly, looking to James who looked just as aghast at the idea. So whatever he and Harry had talked about last night wasn't that, but Sirius was still sure something had happened. He'd heard Harry call out for him, but he'd also heard James talking to him, and he'd never felt like that was an invitation to come in no matter how much he'd wanted to. James needed that time with Harry, and if it was one of the factors that had kept Harry here, then all the better.

Somewhere deep in the normal part of his mind Remus would have laughed at that, realizing Harry clearly didn't care if this mysterious snake attack power didn't activate around the Dursley's, but he was far more concerned glowering at Harry along with everyone else until he mumbled an apology again and swore that thought wasn't on his mind now. They didn't one hundred percent believe him, but maybe they should invest in getting that door permanently sealed for the time being.

Lily began leaning anxiously into James, keeping a tight hold on her infant as she kept watching Harry's blank face. No form of him seemed to regret this, and that scared her worst of all. If this wasn't real, if this really all should have been put down to another vision as it only should have been, then Harry should be relaxing by now in the face of moving away from the subject, be far more exasperated at his past self for making the wrong decision. He wasn't showing any of those signs. But none of this could be true! It just wouldn't be, what had happened to her baby?

Sirius began a low thundered growl in agitation. The last thing Harry needed was to be taunted by that pompous git, who may possibly somehow taunt Harry into doing something worse. He

couldn't imagine a scenario like that at the moment, but any relative of his would do just that.

Harry finally almost snapped at that line. As if he needed a further reminder of how much he was like Voldemort right then! That painting was lucky it wasn't blasted off the wall for that! Yet it wasn't Remus' fault he'd said that, the crinkle to his nose showing his distaste clearly said he didn't agree, so Harry restrained himself from doing anything drastic with very heavy regret, as a spell dummy would have done him some good right now.

Lily couldn't help her face darkening in disgust for that reminder, she was well aware of that trait from one individual, though clearly it still wasn't a Slytherin only thing as now a Gryffindor would do the same on an even worse level.

"A trait I'm usually quite proud of, when you're not being an idiot about it," James pleasantly informed him.

Harry actually grinned for a moment, thinking back on all the times he'd been 'noble,' and their absolute praise of him. Voldemort couldn't do the same if his life depended on it, they must not be the same, right?

"Any particular reason he couldn't have delivered this in person?" Lily failed miserably at keeping the venom out of her voice for their old headmaster.

"Beats me," Harry was the only one who dared answer in the face of her wrath.

"That's it!" Lily thundered. "After all you've been through, Merlin he's even bothered to inform the Order of what you've been through, but he couldn't be bothered to see you in person just to

pass along the stupidest thing! He needs to get his saggy arse in gear and tell you what is going on already, or so help me I'll Charm his knickers into a twist! Stay where you are, he better bloody stay where he is when I come for him, or so help me I'll remove his legs before having it out with him!"

The boys watched her with honest fear even while they would have happily guarded the door so Dumbledore heard every single word. Her own frustration with this situation was reaching its

peak, and none of them believed anymore Dumbledore had shared everything he knew about this, especially not after that.

"He finds everyone impertinent, even me if you can believe it," Sirius said in exasperation.

"Not the best symmetry I'd have used at the moment," Remus muttered while glancing at Harry, who once again glanced anxiously at the door for the reminder.

"That's depressing," James sighed for how well Harry had summed up most of these books.

"You wanted to make a run for it then to," Sirius frowned anxiously, still kicking himself he hadn't guessed this was where Harry's thoughts may have gone this time. "You make a terrible

habit of that pup."

Harry just glared at him without response.

With every word of Phineas' speech, Remus felt his anger start to ebb away more and more at Dumbledore. Before this he'd never questioned the order's he'd been given, and even now while

angry beyond belief because of all that was happening to Harry and what would happen to Sirius, he still wanted all of that to be true. For Dumbledore to have a good reason for all this anger they had for him, to just find that one simple trust he used to hold absolutely that Dumbledore knew what he was doing and this would all work out okay because of it.

Sirius recognized something was bothering Remus, his tone began shifting just a bit as he read that part and it wasn't hard to figure out why. Remus admired Dumbledore more than anyone, and the shift he'd had lately in being so angry at him must be hardest of all for Moony. Sirius knew he'd have to talk to Moony about that, though he should probably wait until Harry wasn't in the middle of a nervous breakdown.

"I swear that thing would be more useful as a toilet lid," Sirius scoffed in disgust for actually getting Harry's hopes up for one second that he was going to say anything useful.

Harry slumped back into his seat in utter exhaustion, watching the lot of them expectantly, but to his surprise no mocking tones returned for that. He was as relieved as he was surprised, unsure if he would have welcomed the jabs now or if he even had the energy to laugh at them anymore. Clearly though, the Marauders had all mutually decided on the idea of leaving Harry be with

that...for now.

Harry's throat nearly felt swollen shut at this idea, his hand spasming in place in his urgent need to cling to Sirius. He fought hard though, would not let himself do any such thing because he was just overreacting, nothing was going to happen to him or anyone so long as he did what Dumbledore said...

Harry let out a frustrated noise he hoped muffled a sob. He hated this, hated the constant reminder of that dream, how every time it was mentioned he grew more certain he just wanted to never hear of it again or something unspeakable would happen.

"Or he's giving you your privacy," James said with an eye roll he didn't feel, Harry's tendency to always jump to the worst conclusion meaning they were just going to keep hearing about all of these things no matter how much they convinced Harry in here they weren't needed, if they were even succeeding at that.

Remus made a sound like a buzzer. "Wrong on that one, we already have proof Ron and Hermione will put up with the worst side of you from this year alone."

"Was that supposed to make me feel better?" Harry asked blankly as he was reminded of all the yelling he'd done towards them on top of everything.

Remus opened, then closed his mouth, but couldn't come up with a response for that one.

"What exactly was a painting going to do in that instance?" Sirius demanded in a tone that actually managed curiosity and disbelief for this happening all at once.

"I don't know, alert Dumbledore so he could go over there and stop me," Harry offered, but for once not as if he was really arguing the point, now just enjoying once again egging his godfather on.

"Psht," Sirius huffed, "at this point it's more likely he actually wanted your company than that."

"Gee, thanks," Harry muttered, never growing tired of their form of 'helpfulness' to his life.

"You'd be better off on the run," James said tersely, he still hadn't forgotten the most recent summer.

Remus instantly began perking up at the mention of his favorite holiday that he and Sirius always shared, for the first time hopping he got a mention soon just so that the three of them could finally spend a holiday together like some semblance of normal.

Lily sighed quietly to herself, finding that more sad than anything that was the happiest Harry had seen him for such a simple reason.

"Harry, this is a terrible bloody time for you and Sirius to have switched personalities!" James groaned. At least Sirius' he had understood, he'd never judge him for the way he acted in that

place, but now he was getting tense at the idea of Harry becoming the same way.

Sirius wouldn't let his good mood come back to him in this room, he was scowling more heavily every minute that he hadn't come talked to Harry already! The only reason he could imagine being

so happy was having his godson around for the holidays, and he couldn't even be bothered to hunt him down and talk to him, or more preferably demand what was wrong with him and then get

some sense knocked into his pup? He'd been able to do it marginally in here, at least the starts of it as Harry was at least pretending to act normal, what on earth could be more important than that in the future?!

"Oh shit!" Remus yelped in surprise, while Lily doubled up laughing semihystireaclly.

"I hadn't thought about her once during this," James nodded, "now I'm terrified what she's going to do to the lot of you, waking up with no one to tell her what happened overnight."

"Well she's certainly not going to let Harry continue avoiding people for starters, so that's already an improvement," Sirius muttered with a touch of sulk, one last ditch hope that he was right behind Hermione that he couldn't even cling to for one line.

"I'm guessing she has a few bruises that goes against this," Remus managed a real chuckle.

"Oh, so she lied to them?" Lily recovered in time for her brows to shoot up in surprise, and then continue their path as the thought really made her sad, "I do wonder about Hermione's parents. We haven't even gotten their names, and she's so far spent every holiday away from them, even a bit of her summers recently. They must be very sad she's skipping out on them now, it hardly feels she's around them."

"She doesn't talk about them much," Harry couldn't think of anything else to offer, "I think she's always been a bit distant from everyone till she met Ron and I." He shifted a bit as well with sadness, though he'd never thought about it till now his mum was right, and he had a nasty feeling the separation would only grow more extreme over the years.

"What, no twins to ambush you?" Sirius said with honest disappointment.

"For now, I think the smaller the group the better, I'm surprised even Ginny's there," Remus tried to pacify, while James' brow creased for the same thing, though a nasty thought bubble occurred to him of why the youngest Weasley was there. He just hoped he was wrong, and yet it could be the very thing to help Harry in his time.

"Good to know he keeps even Hermione more updated than me," Harry said just a touch bitterly, wondering if somehow rolls had been reversed and he would have been told or if he'd just be sent

some useless letter about it again.

"I'm sure she'll find a way to fix it so you have to pass through her office to even leave the castle next," Remus muttered in disgust.

"You're a terrible liar," Lily told him pleasantly, though she honestly hadn't asked him that herself for she didn't want the same response, it would only hurt worse.

"I do love this one," Lily chuckled, watching Harry curiously and noticing the first real smile playing across his face since Arthur's attack. She noted that he seemed rather happy at her

approval.

"Okay, Hermione wins this round," Sirius sighed with actual disappointment while Harry looked at him oddly, clearly feeling he'd missed a joke he knew by now Sirius wouldn't explain.

"I do give her credit for not putting up with your bullshit," Remus snickered to himself.

"I think we're lucky he hasn't been trying to play that in here," James said in a bit of defense for his son.

"Probably because he's older now than he was then, trying to handle it a tad more maturely," Lily said, still watching him with a critical eye.

"Or it's because every time I try it I get ambushed," Harry said good naturedly, though to be honest he hadn't actually tried that in here yet. He'd spent to many years out of the company of his

parents to long to be away from them for even a second. Even while he'd needed his time to think and be away from them, he hadn't gone through with his plans just for the almost selfish desire of being around them, in hopes they would continue understanding his past and even help him with it when it was all said and done. He didn't have a way to put that into actual words, so he just grinned at their relieved smile to have finally gotten some returning comment back.

"You can't blame them for talking about you when you've been refusing to be around them, maybe then they would have let you in on the conversation," Lily happily scolded.

"Congratulations, you're now a walking contradiction," Sirius happily cheered while Harry rolled

his eyes at him.

They all winced at that reminder, James hardest of all as he'd been right in guessing why Ginny had been allowed into this little intervention. She wasn't even his child, but he couldn't help imagining her as a little miniature Lily, especially recently with all the spunk she'd been showing, and that Chamber still managed to feature in a few of his recent nightmares so he'd hardly forgotten a second of that mess.

"More like being a bit egotistical," Sirius corrected primly, he had some experience with this. "You haven't considered any other options but the ones you made up, I'm sure the moment you would have tried talking about this with anyone, especially Ron as you should have, this would have come up."

Harry was looking more chagrined by the minute, trying to flatten his hair and his face burning far more red than it ever had while Cho had been mentioned. He felt like a fool, how could he ever

forget anything about Ginny?

"I still don't think possessed is even the right classification of this," Remus muttered as he fidgeted with the page in hand, his mind still trying to come up with some explanation for Harry. "Only problem is, I can't think of anything else that even comes close."

Harry just sighed, but he couldn't be angry with him or anyone for not having an answer he didn't have either.

"That seems to work best for you," Lily told him with a grin as Harry finally started working out the kinks in his shoulder, shifting his weight and clearly looking to force himself to relax for the first time all morning. He was beginning to actually smile again, just by the smallest amount. His true fear was by no means gone, the full answer still laid buried in his mind about the true dark horrors of his connection with Voldemort, but of Ginny's logic he was completely in agreement with, and that helped more than anything.

"That is an interesting phenomena compared to the last ones," Remus begrudgingly agreed, afraid it would only upset Harry more now that he spoke this aloud, but though Harry frowned as he

fully compared the two scenarios, at least it didn't send him into a state of panic again.

His dreams from last year had all seemed to be from outside his very own body, yet this time it was most certainly inside Nagini. What was the difference? Surely it couldn't just be because Voldemort had a proper body now, the connection between them clearly ran deeper than some physical shell. There was nothing in him though that remotely suggested he may get an answer for this though, and would just have to accept it for the phenomena it was.

"Nope," James said popping the p for emphasis.

"Never going to happen," Sirius agreed.

"I can't even picture it," Remus rolled his eyes while Lily frowned at the lot of them.

Lily hummed with approval. Her son got starved enough without him helping the process along because he was stressed.

"A treat not many are privy to, you should be grateful," Sirius muttered petulantly, still more angry at himself than anyone he wasn't doing more than just singing. He uneasily glanced towards his best mate, but James was just looking sadly to him. It was clear he understood why Sirius was so angry with himself, but nothing in his expression made it seem as if he was angry at Sirius for acting this way. He couldn't imagine why.

"What's with this sudden switch back to me?" Sirius hissed. "I'd rather keep talking about how you're not possessed by Voldemort."

Harry shifted anxiously again, though now it was in concern for his godfather. He wished he could offer up some explanation for why he'd continued to be so distant, but Harry honestly had none.

For just a moment Sirius did feel a twitching smile push at himself. He wanted to keep being angry at himself for not being there for Harry once, not even when he was in the same blasted

house with him, but now the idea of getting revenge on that bare house in this way was a kind distraction...and he honestly wondered if that's what he was doing while Harry was there. He

found it hard to believe right now, but what if he really was just so distracted at having company and putting as much as he could into those hang ups out of pure spite for what his mother would think of them, Harry only crossed his mind long enough to help him with the other end of the tinsel? This wasn't helping his case of how much sanity he had left.

"Honestly, I'm impressed it took her five years to do that one, considering she probably has one for every subject," Remus snorted.

"And not even helpful advice," James sighed.

Lily just had time to note how ironic it was those titles were in the exact opposition to the books he was supposedly learning his DA from this year before he started.

Sirius was so sick of his continued mentionings only furthering his confusion, so exhausted from being so useless, that he put every last drop of energy he had into exclaiming wildly and jabbing a finger into Remus' face. "Moony, how could you! I go from giving Harry an international broom, plus a knife of actual use, and then this! No, no, this is all dastardly ploy on Moony's part, they must be a trick present for not even he ever insulted our world by handing over such things as a gift! I'll not have it-"

"Are you quite done?" Remus interrupted curiously.

"No," he grumbled, crossing his arms petulantly and seriously considering continuing just to further agitate the lot of them.

"Well I'm going to keep going anyways, so you can continue in another room," Remus pleasantly informed him, turning back curiously in hopes of some kind of explanation for this, as it was rather odd from the two of them. He'd only let Sirius go on as long as he had to force himself to push past the sting he still couldn't be bothered to cobble together his own gift for Harry but rather put his name on what Sirius had likely done.

"Oh," both muttered, before actually grinning just a bit. The idea of further encouraging Harry like this was actually something both were rather fond of now that the idea was in their head.

James just rolled his eyes at the two while not at all discouraging the idea, wishing his friends had picked something a tad more flamboyant in their efforts to help Harry out with this. He supposed though this was just another example of how different they truly were from his friends now, and he'd just have to get over it.

"I think I've heard of those," Remus said with amusement, "you're actually supposed to let it eat the money, and then you have to tickle it to release the money. It is true though that if you're not careful, it can rip up paper money or a finger if you don't do it right."

"Hagrid," Harry said in answer with a grin.

"I'm impressed Tonks gave you a present!" Lily said in surprise, she hadn't thought her and her son had gotten on that well.

"She gave Ron one too, but I don't know about anyone else," Harry shrugged.

"Well it can't be that awful then, as I'm sure it was made with as much love as Molly's sweater," Lily at once tried to scold, though her lips were at once twitching at the idea of this while Sirius and James were puzzling in confusion an elf would do such a thing.

"That didn't sound very Merry," Remus muttered in concern.

"Oh dear," James muttered, watching Lily as she at once switched to leaning forward on edge, clearly wanting to give Molly a hug and give Percy a piece of her mind next even while she was mad at the both of them and understood both of them all at the same time.

"Maybe he just hasn't heard?" Harry offered as he scowled heavily, he couldn't imagine even Percy being that cold.

"It's a possibility," Sirius agreed without much enthusiasm for the idea. "It wasn't in the papers after all, so unless someone from the Ministry strictly told him-"

"Or maybe Molly did?" Remus agreed half heartedly.

Both left a bit to be desired, but it was certainly the kinder alternative than Percy flat uncaring about his family anymore. In fact, if any of them had thought so far ahead, they almost would have hoped this would help to gap the bridge between the two.

"I can't imagine how that didn't brighten her day," Lily groaned for the poor mother.

Remus finally brightened while reading about all this. He'd already half convinced himself he was going to be a no show without explanation, again.

"If there was one thing I wish you'd come here with, it was this!" James groaned.

"Your priorities," Lily rolled her eyes.

"The most use it'll ever get," Sirius snickered.

"Perfume?" Harry repeated in surprise, though the others hardly looked the same and more indulgent than anything.

"Looks like Ron's not being so subtle anymore about his crush," Sirius chuckled.

"Perfume already, either he's throwing out a massive hint or they're already together and Harry never noticed," James smirked.

"I'd notice something like that!" Harry said defensively, thinking back, but his friends hadn't been acting too differently than normal. Though he did wonder if this had something to do with Hermione's letter to Krum and that made Ron switch from getting her a new quill.

Lily shook her head fondly. Considering how he was with his own crush, she wasn't sure of that.

Remus considered letting his friends linger on this topic like they so clearly wanted to do, but Ron wasn't here to suffer with Harry on this so it would be almost cruel to leave him on his own for this one. Still, he turned back to the book with an honest smile now, Harry finally looking at ease again all he'd been asking for.

"Of course it is," Sirius rolled his eyes.

Harry frowned at him slightly, so James quickly swooped in and asked, "you still buying Dobby those socks for every day of the year?"

"Yes," Harry said with a smile, "I sent him some more along for that Chirstmas."

"Between you and Hermione, he probably owns more socks than all of Hogwarts by now," Remus snickered.

"Not like it would work anyways," Sirius rolled his eyes with a huff, still in disbelief none of them realized that after all this time.

"He dosen't have a bedroom," Sirius said flatly without a touch of remorse.

Harry frowned sadly at him, and yet the mention of Kreacher again was nagging terribly at the edge of his mind. He was supposed to be remembering something, very important, about the last time Kreacher was mentioned...but he'd been so consumed with what he'd done to Arthur the thought just wouldn't present itself.

Lily sighed deeply and began fidgeting with her hair. She couldn't quite shake off the Percy problem as well as the boys easily did with an eye roll. She couldn't stop imagining how much worse this would have to get for Percy to come back to them, if next time it may be even worse than hospitalization...

"More than I've ever done," Sirius scoffed, though he'd never bothered to open this door before either. He wasn't sure if anyone in his family had in fact, if they needed the bugger they just called for him.

"I wasn't aware he slept," Sirius muttered bitterly, "I thought he haunted at all hours."

Harry fidgeted uneasily at the mention of her, and glancing at Sirius' clear disgust wasn't making that feeling one bit better. He knew what she'd done to Neville's past and he hated her for that alone, but she was in Azkaban, there was just no reason for him to start shaking slightly at the thought of what else she may do.

"She'll be lucky if he doesn't piss on it before chucking it in the boiler," Sirius snapped.

"Have you ever tried?" Lily raised a haughty brow. She didn't fault Sirius much for his hatred of his elf now she knew some of the reasons for them, but mutual hatred only made things worse.

Sirius just scoffed, before a cruel grin slipped up and he said, "no, but I just might, it would give him heart failure."

Remus rolled his eyes and kept going before Lily could do more than scowl at him.

Harry could feel his vision starting to swim, his heart already tightening with worry. Sirius just scoffed though, throwing an easy arm around Harry and not quite able to keep the malice out of his voice, "I know what you're thinking, but Kreacher isn't as smart as Dobby, nor nowhere near as motivated to do anything so stupid as leave."

Harry had to concentrate just to swallow before nodding, but not one small bit of him could relax as he whispered, "sure you're not underestimating him?"

Sirius rolled his eyes at Harry's worry, whatever he was thinking that had him looking so worried was probably just lingering worry for his Voldemort scare from earlier.

James at least laughed, Remus tried to resist doing the same, while Lily frowned at the lot of them. The Malfoy's ploy had failed, to their benefit of course, but all because they'd never paid a speck of attention to their house-elf. Now here was Sirius doing the exact same thing. It scared her more than her mind could handle in that moment to even concoct an idea of how badly this could go, if Kreacher was somehow slipping out and passing things along like Dobby had done for Harry. The way Harry kept glancing anxiously at his godfather...but no, she was being ridiculous of course. Sirius must have covered all his bases on what that elf could say, she was just getting paranoid in trying to interpret all of her son's fears.

Remus paused for a moment in surprise. He'd never even considered the idea of going back to St. Mungo's since his initial release, the place housed some of his worst memories of waking up and realizing what a monster he was. Yet here he was, casually going along with them it seemed. He wanted to glance at his friends, like maybe they'd have some explanation for him, but he refused to look up purely to show just how much he didn't care either way.

"Now who's being paranoid," Sirius said innocently towards Harry, who forced a smile in place he didn't feel, but it was better than letting that gaping hole eat away at him. He hoped he was being paranoid, that he'd get to always enjoy Sirius' company for as long as he wanted then and now.

"I swear I'd enjoy this job just to hear some of the stories in all of this," James chuckled.

"Guess it's better than the one who couldn't bother to look at you last time," Sirius snickered.

"Wonder what he's been up to," Remus mused at once

Lily felt her brows creep up with worry, that wasn't a good start. Harry though looked slightly amused, as he remembered watching Mr. Weasley try to get around this, and surely if something had gone wrong he'd be much more worried about it.

"The man's got a gift for making me think the exact opposite," Lily said indulgently, just happy he was okay for whatever had happened.

"I'm sure he's rather easy to get gifts for," Sirius said cheerfully, thinking he could pluck up anything from a muggle shop and Arthur would love it.

"Uh oh," James hummed, though he looked more curious than concerned.

Lily not so much, all sorts of complications running through her mind of what could have gone wrong. Thankfully he was still alive of course, but she felt just as snappish as Molly at the idea something had happened so told her husband to hush until she got her answer.

"Women," Sirius muttered so only Remus could here. He agreed, but chose not to reply for now.

"Honestly the proper response," James still said with chipper, not even flinching while Lily kept scowling at him for poking fun at this. Something really bad could have happened, and just

because he was up and talking didn't mean it wasn't a problem anymore.

"Oh this is just getting better and better," Lily groaned.

The boys burst out laughing without restraint, and Lily slumped back while shaking her head as she grasped what had happened, catching her husband's hand in a slight apology for her temper.

She was still on edge for everything that had happened to Harry.

"Wow, cheers Moony, spreading the holiday spirit around," Sirius grinned while patting him on the shoulder for not only an excellent escape but also putting that Order business to even more good use.

Remus didn't detect a hint of mocking in his tone, but he'd still rather swat the hand away then dwell on the idea much.

"Oh? Honestly, I hadn't noticed either," James' shoulders were starting to shake with laughter.

Harry blinked in surprise, glancing to his dad and realizing why he'd be laughing hardest of all. "Wizards really don't do that?"

James blinked in surprise, and then continued to laugh even harder that Muggles really tried that.

Lily watched him for a moment with indulgence before explaining to Harry, "no, a charm can be used for most cuts, or if they're to severe then they're wrapped and given some blood potions until they can find an alternative method to keeping the wound shut."

"You mean Muggles actually," James faltered, and mimed squishing his skin together, his face screwed up as he tried to picture it.

"Close enough dear, and it does work remarkably well for a lot of their wounds," Lily patted his hand as he still struggled with the idea.

"How do they survive without magic?" He just muttered, while Remus finally forced himself to keep going rather than watching James get his head around this, no matter how much fun the latter was.

"She's taking this rather hard," Sirius winced for the poor man who couldn't even make a run for it while bedridden.

"I'm sure it's just worry," Lily was still smiling, James' face was still distant as he kept muttering about the idea. "I can't say I'd have reacted much better if any of you lot tried something you had no clue would work while in that condition."

The boys silently concluded it was best not to respond to that.

"A load of help I'm sure," Sirius said with chipper, "though I doubt they have a cure for whatever Prongs has," he finished with a smirk while James finally came back to the here and now in time to stick his tongue out at him.

Harry blinked in surprise, his mind trying to make a painful leap to something, but was instantly distracted by Sirius looking just as affronted. "I've no such thing, where would the painting get that idea?"

Harry snickered away at once while Remus called him an idiot.

"What a lovely bedside manner," James snorted.

"I can think of better uses for Umbridge's body parts, like kelpie food," Remus muttered.

"I recommend you try that," James said honestly, while watching Sirius with mock concern, "just to make sure you don't get it mate."

Sirius just smirked, an expression clearly warning James should keep an eye out for eel eyes appearing in his dinner now, while Harry resisted the urge to glance at Remus curiously and ask if

he could even have that cure, would being a werewolf affect the treatment? Could he even have such a thing as being a werewolf seemed to hold him resistant to quite a few things. He denied

asking any of the above out of sheer rudeness however.

"A ghastly sight in themselves, maybe the eels are worth it," Sirius shoulders kept shaking while James leaned down and kissed a freckle on Lily's cheek.

"You've far more restraint than some," Remus congratulated Harry while Sirius was still freely laughing.

"Oh, my, goodness," Lily whispered, staring hard at Remus as she tried to to think up some other explanation for the suddenly stunned look on Remus' face.

She wasn't getting another answer though, as they remembered vividly that description. Apparently they weren't getting any further answer at all from Remus who kept sitting there dumbstruck, so Sirius snatched the book away and read with honest, eager curiosity for this explanation.

"Look, Hermione remembers her first crush!" James yelped, and then they were all laughing. There was a hard edge to the noise that didn't quite make it feel natural, none of them had

forgotten what he'd nearly done to Harry plus all those other poor people he'd had to have done something to for his books to have been so popular. The fiend should have been in Azkaban for

his act's, but now they fully realized the setting he was found in, and they realized he'd never recovered from his memory loss!

"Give that back," Remus demanded, not quite eagerly, but certainly coming out his shock enough to snatch it back before Sirius could protest the fun of this.

Sirius gave in without one anyways, knowing Remus' insulted pride from before at such a useless waste being a teacher had been just a bit sated, but it couldn't be a pleasant reminder for Moony either.

Lily rubbed at her temple while James' grin went more twisted than ever, muttering snidely that he hadn't changed at all.

James laughed all the harder, Harry grinning at him as well as he guessed what the joke was.

"I'd hold no remorse for that what so ever," Sirius scoffed in disgust.

"There's the proper response!" Remus congratulated.

Lily was smiling along as well, though she was getting a bit worried. Not particularly for his care, he could fall back down into the Chamber for all he'd done, but if he had been in St. Mungo's this whole time, then surely he should be looked after better than just wandering around the place.

"I don't understand why you're still calling him that?" James demanded.

"I don't understand why they ever called him that," Remus glared at the word.

"Well that was a nice change at least," Harry snickered.

"Teach is not the word I'd use," Remus scoffed.

"No," they all stated.

"Certainly all of the important lessons, like humbleness," Lily snorted.

"Ah," Lily finally muttered in understanding.

"Maybe it's because someone made sure to reveal what a farce he was, I find it lucky the place isn't sent dungbombs once a week," James scowled.

"I wonder how he's even paying for the place?" Lily mused, hoping all the money that should have gone to the families of the victims for that memory charm placed on the people of Lockhart's stories wasn't being wasted on this dung for brains.

"Whatever the answer, it's too good for him," Sirius grumbled.

"It's sad you can't even blame this on the memory charm, he was always like that," Remus rolled his eyes.

"I'm not sure I'd even know the difference right now not knowing that," Sirius scoffed.

"Not that he had much of a mind to regain," James said in disgust.

"You are a far better person than any of us," Remus scoffed, "I'd have turned around and walked away again. I've had my fun."

Harry began twitching in unease, something about this place pestering at his mind...

"I know that name," Sirius snapped his fingers impatiently towards James.

"Don't look at me," James shrugged, the name meaning nothing to him.

Lily frowned in remembrance as well, she felt like she had heard that name recently as well, but she couldn't place from where.

Sirius was still grumbling and running his hand through his hair in agitation, but no one was helping.

Harry was frowning anxiously now, something of this place really pushing hard at his mind.

Lily was watching him with a frown, her voice coming out softly, "it's alright Harry. You're getting better, you'll never go near that place."

The boys stiffened as they looked wildly to Harry, but he merely gave her a gentle smile in return. The thought hadn't even crossed his mind yet, but it still meant everything to him she'd never consider the option.

"What did Ginny do to deserve a detention?" James spluttered in protest.

"Wait, so Dumbledore never did turn him in for what he did!" Lily spluttered as she looked away from Harry, now glaring daggers at the book. "He shouldn't still be getting fan mail, he should be getting death threats!"

"Did Dumbledore really not turn him in?" Remus demanded of Harry, but all he could do was shrug.

He knew he'd never said anything about this fact, he'd been far to happy with everything else going on at the end of the year, like Ginny being alive. He certainly hadn't kept up with the paper enough at that age to know if it would have been mentioned, but by all accounts, "no, I guess it seems not. Maybe Dumbledore could never get proof enough to do anything about this."

"About the only thing he's ever had claim to," Sirius rolled his eyes in disgust.

"Thank you for that reminder," James smirked.

Harry stiffened, his eyes going wide with surprise as he felt he'd finally found the source of his unease, and now he was just as sure those around him weren't going to enjoy the answer any more than him of whose privacy was being saved.

Harry had been so intensely focused on the idea of that dividing curtain, this hardly passed his mind as something he should consider, even as his gut tightened painfully for something he would already regret forgetting.

"Oh dear," Lily whispered, her hand covering her mouth as her eyes flipped wide in surprise.

"Bollocks," Sirius hissed while Remus recoiled and considered dropping the book to save himself getting further information on this. They'd all known Alice and Frank at least in passing while in school, and James and Lily had grown quite close with the pair over the past year because of their shared newborns. They had desperately been trying to come up with a plan to help them once this all came down, how to warn Frank and Alice of their impending future, and hadn't yet come to the full realization that despite Dumbledore saying they'd survived the instance, where exactly they would be.

Remus inhaled very slowly, and exhaled at the same speed, before glancing guiltily at the others for what he was fixing to tell them. Still, skipping it would do nothing but hurt Harry worse, and they were going to do everything to make sure all this ever was, was a horrible tale that would never come true.

Harry sagged back into his seat, intensely fighting the feeling of covering his face so as not to hear of someone else's past they had no wish to share. He suffered that on a regular basis through his life in the wizarding world, he'd never want to force this on Neville.

"You are such a good person," James told him sincerely, knowing he'd have set Lockhart on fire as a first distraction, but even that may not be enough to keep the others attention as well as they'd know Neville's last name.

"I think I'd rather be struck by that bullet," Sirius bounced uneasily, waiting for the promising blow, this was only going to get worse.

None of them could even imagine this. What Neville must be feeling, on top of already having seen his parents like this, to just suddenly have people he knew foisted into a private moment.

Remus wasn't sure how he sounded to the others, but he could feel how strained his voice was, unclear of any emotion except stress to get this over with.

"Probably one of the politest first greetings I've ever gotten aside from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," Harry muttered.

"The others I get, by would Hermione be recognized?" James quickly flipped to analyzing this rather than continue thinking about two people he actually knew, actually liked in such a place as that.

"Maybe Neville's mentioned her along with the other two, he's been known as a passing friend once or twice," Lily supplied when Harry still seemed prone against saying anything.

Lily made a horrified noise at that woman comparing Neville to his father now of all times. Couldn't the woman have a heart, realize Neville wanted this to continue as much as Harry didn't,

and excuse the two of them? Instead, that was almost a passive insult.

Remus had never heard many pleasant things about Augustus from Frank, and he now had confirmation they were all true. It was no wonder Neville was the way they'd seen in class if this was all he heard at home.

"I think I'd have done it anyways," James said miserably.

"Hint one, Ron nothing," Sirius groaned.

"I suppose just leaving would be more rude than saving him," Remus muttered, but he wasn't coming up with any alternatives either.

James paled, his mouth twisting in agitation for some spiteful comment he'd have given back. If they hadn't knowledge of this before hand, if this was the first he'd heard about his fellow Order members, he'd have been loosing his mind with worry! How could she just throw this around like that.

"That woman!" Lily spat in outrage. "He can show however he wants to feel towards his parents! If he doesn't want to parade the fact like you're doing, than how dare she force him to!"

Harry was busy trying to sink as far back in his seat as he could go, wanting to close his eyes so he wouldn't have to keep looking to his parents, thinking about what his life would have been like if they'd been like that. Yet every time he did, he just remembered Neville's parents instead.

Remus startled so bad the book nearly fell to the floor as he realized what he'd said. His mind floundered to understand how they, if they...but he also realized there was no way to get an

answer other than to keep going. He could hardly glance at the others, feeling their surprise as well that clearly a once lively woman was at least capable of a bit more than they'd thought if she'd wandered over to join the conversation. What if she was like Lockhart, would it hurt more to see some echo of her? He was starting to run out of air as he pressed on, his voice cracking more with every word.

Hickory began purring loudly in Lily's ear, nearly startling her out of her seat, though it made the baby in her lap giggle for just a moment. Still, she reached up and began absently stroking the thick brown fur, the calming movement the only bearable thing at the moment. This was as unimaginable as trying to imagine Sirius thirteen years after Azkaban. This wasn't going to happen, she just couldn't bear it of the woman raising a little baby like her own, not someone so good who only wanted to help the world.

James almost snapped right then. He hated this! Frank and Alice had no more deserved this than Lily and James had. The good people they were out trying to do the right thing, and they were the ones who continued to suffer the worst fates of all! Alice loved chewing bubble gum, she popped bubbles incessantly during meetings often driving everyone else crazy, and to think for even a second he'd have to go one day, seeing her like this as the only remnant of the life she'd never lived! How was it fair!

"It's not going to happen!" Sirius snarled, sounding more convinced of this now than he ever had in his life. "We won't let it, I'll rip Bellatrix and Jr.'s head off my f'ing self, that's never going to happen!"

Harry leaned into him for a moment, wishing just once that his memory's, his past was wrong.

Remus had to stop to let Sirius get that out, and he was glad he had, he'd needed a moment to collect himself. To feel the soft cushion beneath him, for Sirius to continue being himself and

always swear he wasn't going to let the worst happen to someone he cared for. It was all the reminder he could cling to this hadn't happened yet.

Harry was starting to look a bit green in here from this memory being returned. This was a fate he wouldn't wish upon anyone.

James had his arm wrapped tight around Lily, both of them hating having to picture in their head that being the only gift a child could receive from their parent...and yet it was still more than they'd given Harry in his time. Even something like a wrapper would mean the world to Neville.

"Here's hoping this'll finally show Hermione the love Kreature gives out," Sirius said so twistedly if Harry hadn't been watching him he wouldn't have recognized the voice.

Remus opened, then closed his mouth. The mocking laugh just wouldn't escape, not after all that.

Harry suddenly let out a wild gasp, hope flaring in him for just a moment as she shouted, "obliviate!"

"Harry-" Lily began in concern, but he didn't even seem to hear her.

"Why couldn't they just have erased the pain from Neville's parents memories? If they don't remember being tortured, surely they wouldn't..."

He'd already trialed off as he began looking wildly around in hopes someone would start looking hopeful again, just a hint of agreement.

No one wanted to be the one to do so, hoping Harry would realize on his own if this hadn't been done already then it wasn't an option, but his face just continued to look more concerned without the understanding, so with a heavy sigh James explained. "I'm afraid Harry that magic doesn't work that way. Magic runs deeper than just hitting your skin, the Cruciatus curse tortures your mind as much as your body all at once, you can't fix everything with magic. Suppose if they did just try to block out the memory of the pain, the magic that had caused it would still linger, the scar would still be there in the brain, the soul, causing the damage." He paused with a lingering look on his wife. "It's magic that runs deeper than flesh, something that just can't be healed."

Harry slumped back in disappointment, still trying to push his mind around in frustration, for something to be done for them instead of just treating this as incurable.

Remus couldn't even find the simple words to announce the chapter was done, it felt too insignificant for the future they kept hearing about.

HPHPHPHP

It probably showed in this chapter, but I really dislike Augusta Longbottom. Her and whatever family Neville has seems way to hard on that poor kid. I also don't particularly feel that her

sending a note to Neville at the end of the seventh book particularly makes up for it the years of talking to him like this.

I have an actual official completion date for when this one will be done that I'm not changing, finally. Sorry it took so long to lock this one down, it's been a crazy couple of months for me. It's on my profile if you care to look, otherwise I'll enjoy your company again next Monday!

*Actually I added that, because it's never mentioned what Mad-Eye did, he's not mentioned after he's said to have gone with them. I could have said he stayed in the car with Dung, but this made me smile more.

**Okay, so normally I don't do this, but sometimes I just can't help myself. I swear this isn't a slam on Twilight, it just honestly amuses me, because I notice stupid things. Does anyone ever notice how similar some of these names are? An Alice from an asylum like place? A James who had a redheaded girlfriend? Two redheaded Victoria's. I won't make a Bella book two/ Bellatrix crack, but come on. There's also some that aren't as oddly similar but share names, such as Charlie. Everyone's pointed out the Black thing, but these small ones are the things that get to me.


	24. OCCLUMENCY

It took Lily several moments to come back and realize how deeply she was nestled in James' side, and she hardly had the energy to pull away after that. It felt callous, to keep going after hearing the fate of her friend, but the only way she knew to help was getting to the bottom of these books, to Harry's memories. She just knew that would be the key to saving everyone, it had to be. The moment he understood how to let them out of this place, she could go and save Alice, Frank, and everyone.

With that thought in mind, it still took her a few moments to process why Remus wasn't still going, and she had to clear her throat hard for a moment before calling to him.

He jolted in surprise, almost as if he'd forgotten where he was. She couldn't blame him, but he finally agreed that part was done and she begrudgingly let her infant leave her arms, but some

color finally came back to at least Remus' face as he cradled the infant and she found her place to start.

Harry was glad he wasn't the one reading again. He could feel some nasty catch in his throat, but as he tried to quietly clear it, it almost came out as a sob. He only just managed to turn it into a cough, his face more troubled now than ever to understand what that could mean.

Sirius was frowning in unease in here though, a trickle of worry starting to replace his calm. Kreacher wasn't like Dobby though, his wretched thing didn't have the gall to go against him, and

it's not as if he abused Kreacher like Dobby had been. He mainly ignored the imp unless he did something that deserved a kick from the room.

"Oh boy," James muttered. He'd already been watching Sirius with concern, he'd seen the confusion and beginnings of something on his face at the mention of Kreacher, but now something else was entirely masking that. Hearing about how flamboyant he'd been during Christmas had been the most they'd seen of their Padfoot yet, and Harry hadn't even been in the same way to enjoy it. Now somehow things were flipping right back around! Was it really so

impossible to have everyone be happy for a moment?

Lily was worried that's all they seemed to feel in here anymore as well. School, while not an ideal time in their life what with Voldemort trying to kill them all, was where they all had their best memories. It seemed that way for Harry as well, and yet the horrible things that so often happened to him there seemed to rival the good of his first home.

"The worst part is, I may cave in and agree with you by now," Sirius grumbled.

"That was pleasant, honestly just what we needed," Remus groaned as Lily now clearly dreaded just flipping to the next page.

Lily stuttered to a halt in surprise, her lip already curling in agitation of thinking of Harry back around him for any reason when they'd had quite a space since the last time.

The boys were already grumbling and shifting around in agitation as well, knowing without a doubt any reason Snape was singling Harry out wasn't going to make them feel better even without the books warning.

"Honestly I try to ignore most sentences with his name as well," Remus agreed.

"That wasn't any more pleasant to hear a second time!" Sirius groaned.

Lily almost wanted to laugh if she hadn't wanted to do the same thing.

Sirius wouldn't deny he was stalling as he demanded, "why not just kick him out of the room then?"

"Hermione's always been big on letting Crookshanks where ever she is. If anyone suggested making the cat get out, she'd get really offended and say she'd just leave to," Harry almost smiled again, even if his brow was still creased with worry for whatever was fixing to happen.

"He's certainly done nothing to earn that respect," James said bitterly.

"I'd call him Professor Snivellus though," Sirius smirked.

"That presumption is almost hurtful," Remus rolled his eyes.

"If it wasn't so often true," Harry sighed.

"Still not worthy of such a highly esteemed house call," James snarked.

"Well some good will clearly come of this," Lily said with even more worry now. "The two are going to kill each other, and that'll give us a little more breathing room."

"I'm hurt Lily," Sirius frowned at her, "as if he could actually kill me, if I wanted him dead I'd already have the stake ready."

Lily just rolled her eyes at him.

"Tell him what to do, not at school, even then he doesn't deserve to-" James trailed off into more disdainful mutterings that Lily was trying to ignore in favor of curiosity of all this.

"Ha!" Sirius barked, all three boys looking far to pleased in Lily's opinion.

James flushed in agitation. He was already worried sick Sirius was going to do something to get himself hurt, shut up in that house. He couldn't help thinking about the last time he'd been shut away for his family's good, and someone else had given him up, resulting in all of this happening. If Snape pushed the right, or in this case the wrong buttons, he didn't want to imagine what Sirius would do to prove him wrong.

Remus' face flushed with fury, his jaw tensed and ready to do more than snap something back for that. First Molly, now Snape, he was sick of everyone putting him down for doing exactly what

he'd been told to do!

Lily kept her face buried behind her hair and the book closer than it strictly needed to be, because she didn't want the others to see she couldn't come up with an argument for that one. Sirius was still on the run, his face could very well still be in the public image. She'd be just as worried about him doing anything as well, and even though she'd love to slap Snape for saying that to him, she couldn't come up with anything else to say either.

Lily froze in confusion, studying the word as if looking for a mistake. She'd considered the idea, but had ruled it out because whatever was happening to her son was too unknown, why add the

extra strain of such a complex bit of magic that they didn't even have proof would work. This wasn't like normal Legilimency she'd heard about, there was no eye contact to what Voldemort was doing, so how would this help?

Harry cut off her train of thought by asking uneasily what that even was, his expression making it clear he wasn't going to enjoy relearning the answer, and indeed while James gave a brief explanation, only more worry lines appeared.

Sirius hardly waited for Harry to wrap his head around such complex magic before howling in frustration, "I still don't understand why he's there! Where the bloody hell is Dumbledore!?"

"We've been wondering that one all year, what makes you think we're getting an answer now," Remus ground out.

Harry couldn't help an extra little scowl, how Snape managed to make the most simplest explanations put him as if he were stupid for not knowing, when his dad had explained even better than that without making him feel idiotic at all.

"No, no Harry," Lily quickly agreed. "Not possessed, he's not controlling you or forcing you to do anything. If, well if this does work the way it's supposed to, then that just means you won't see inside his head anymore."

Harry could not force himself to relax though. It sounded like a great plan...if it worked. He hoped that was his pessimism saying otherwise.

"Then I actually can't wait for them to start," James snapped. "Dumbledore'll finally have to do some explaining, there's no way he can avoid looking at you while teaching you this."

Harry opened his mouth, a nasty warning already going off because of that.

"Really? I thought he just told her every little detail of his life!" Sirius snapped.

"Thought that was obvious," Lily's brows pulled together in confusion as she glanced at Harry. "Dumbledore's the only one I'd trust to do this, considering how advanced it is for you. I'm not

even entirely sure McGonagall knows how."

Harry had no energy in him to say anything otherwise, he was already holding his breath against blurting something out that was going to be still more unpleasant.

Lily was now convinced Dumbledore was out to kill her son as much as Voldemort was.

"Wha-" James voice failed him, he couldn't even put into words every way this was a bad thing!

Sirius did. He said a few things that made Lily's ears want to curl before stating in no uncertain terms, "there is no way I was told about this! Otherwise I'd have broken off his nose and shoved it up his arse for suggesting such a thing!"

"You mean Snape, or Dumbledore?" Remus tried to ask in a pleasant tone of voice, failing miserably.

"Both!" He barked. "The one person worse than Voldemort rooting around in Harry's head while he learns to block it, I still question why that vermin's allowed to teach children! Now he's being given more-" he strangled off with a deep throated noise promising violence that no one would have stopped.

It took a moment for him to catch his breath before he almost said in a calm voice that was nearly as scary as his yelling, "there's no way this is going to happen. Dammit, I should have had some kind of say in this, there's no way I'll let him do this to Harry."

Harry still wasn't sure if he was threatening Dumbledore or Snape more, but he still tried to offer with whatever assurance he could, "I don't think it lasts long." He broke off uneasily, mostly for trying to remember this, but some even larger warning to do with this.

"That wasn't anymore reassuring," Lily grumbled, forcing herself to keep going now.

James couldn't help recoil a bit at Harry's rhetorical question. All his son had ever done was have him for a father, and it had given him nothing but misery his whole life.

"That's as unbelievable as Snape teaching Occlumency!" Remus spluttered. "He certainly hasn't stolen a heart long enough to be helping Harry extra with a class, I'd more likely believe he was

actually torturing you!"

"Saying he had detention for the rest of his life would even be better," James agreed.

"You're not far off," Harry grumbled, his head starting to pound worse than ever at the idea of this. It helped nothing his detentions with Umbridge were going to seem laughable here soon.

"Oh boy," Lily muttered, her joke from earlier looking more likely by the second. It helped nothing the sneer on James' face showed he'd be egging his friend on any second.

"There's my Padfoot," James smirked, Lily having to fight the urge to smack him upside the head for doing exactly what she'd known he was going to do.

"This isn't going to be good," Remus groaned, his eyes already flashing furiously. Snape belittling James in front of Harry infuriated them enough, but now he was going to try the same in front of Sirius. That murder was becoming more apparent by the second.

"I think that's the nicest thing he's ever said about me," James looked bewildered now, unsure just how mad he was supposed to be at that.

"You'd think he of all people would know better than to do that," James just had time to say before Sirius snapped.

"I'm going to very Siriusly rearrange his face!"

Remus tisked sadly, "haven't heard one that bad since first year."

"He hasn't tried to insult me like that since first year, then I taught him better," Sirius said, his face still too red to return Remus' attempt at a smile. "Clearly he needs a reminder."

Sirius returned how Malfoy was doing, he couldn't believe the man let his lapdog out of sight.

Sirius looked at Harry like he'd never seen him before. "Of all the times you try to stop a fight? Neville I understood, but I completely deserve this one Harry!"

Harry's face was set though as he matched his godfather's glare. There was something about this moment, a fight brewing that involved Sirius. He didn't like it, and he tried to make Sirius realize he didn't always have to jump into a fight. "And cursing him would do what? You're already in enough trouble Sirius, this wouldn't help any-"

"I was helping you," Sirius snapped, looking stung Harry wasn't more thankful for this defence.

"I didn't need your protection with this, he's said worse to me," Harry said back, still looking more beseeching than anything, "and you, why'd you suddenly snap?"

"I think I've shown plenty of patience listening already, excuse me if I hit my limit," Sirius growled, now looking as affronted at Harry as if he'd just called him a coward as well.

Harry just kept frowning at him, neither clearly grasping the other's point. The worst part was, Harry wasn't entirely sure what he was trying to say. That Sirius shouldn't be involved in a fight? Harry didn't need to know his godfather long to know that wasn't likely, so why was the idea filling him with such dread...

The others were watching with deep unease, it was unsettling for Harry to be arguing with Sirius like this, and they weren't even sure why he was either. Harry had backed down though, muttering an apology he clearly didn't really mean, just looking for an excuse to look away and move past this.

Sirius just gaped for a moment, before scowling but unbelievably letting go as well. If Harry wouldn't tell him what his problem really was he wasn't going to pry it out of him, especially if it

somehow involved him not standing up to Snivellus for any reason.

"There's the bright side," Remus told Lily mockingly, more tense with unease at the fight in here than the one between Snape and Sirius which was so common place he could practically picture

himself in the background.

Lily gave him an extra huff, still glancing at Harry and Sirius who weren't looking at each other. She wondered if she was the only one who agreed with Harry, Sirius was being an idiot picking a fight with Snape now of all times. The real bother was that she had no clue why Harry thought that way, and clearly neither did he.

"I know I can't picture it," James grumbled, still watching the two critically in here. He couldn't picture anything in his mind's eye that wasn't Harry with his wand on Snape as backup, what was Harry playing at trying to mediate that one?

Remus shivered in unease of the last time Sirius and Snape had been in the same room, he'd be cheering Sirius on just for some pay back of that disastrous night. Instead he threw out a question that had only just occurred to him, "where did you even get a wand?"

Sirius looked to him in confusion, before the question clicked and he said, "don't know, maybe Ollivander got me one. If Dumbledore told him to trust me I'm sure he would do it."

Harry had already presumed Azkaban took a wand away and snapped it, but it was the little questions like this he'd never bothered to ask his godfather that bothered him the most. He'd spent

so much time worrying about Sirius in his past, he hadn't a chance to ask him much of anything. His worry from before was rising up with more force than ever, that he should be taking the time while he had it to ask Sirius anything and everything. He'd only made him smile once in his life, and that had lasted all of a second. He didn't want Sirius to ever think he didn't care, that's the conclusion his godfather could easily draw from Harry, so he quickly blurted, "I'm sorry Sirius, I just got worried watching you start that fight...I don't know why. I-" he stumbled off though, as useless with an apology as he was explaining himself to begin with.

Sirius sighed, but seemed to take it with good grace, he just couldn't seem to stay mad at Harry. "It's alright, I guess. Not like you did something irredeemable, like side with him."

Harry looked affronted at the idea, causing him to laugh, and Harry flushed with warmth at least he was doing something right in here he'd never taken the time to do in his own past.

"I claim that as the most ludicrous lie you've yet told," Remus told him pleasantly.

"And that's saying a lot," James snorted.

James grinned a bit, all too easily picturing that one as if from his own wife.

"I can imagine that didn't bring back the best memories," Sirius muttered, still unsure what it had tried to awaken in Harry, but already knowing thinking back on all his fights with Snape, and

having Harry try telling him to stop rather than having James at his shoulder would make him wish more than ever to not be where he was.

"That was not what was really bothering me," Sirius scoffed. "As you so pleasantly informed me, he's said much worse."

Harry wasn't much reassured.

"I think the nightmares will still be more pleasant than more time with Snivellus," Remus scowled.

Sirius perked right up at once, snickering away that Remus had mimicked Ron, who only rolled his eyes indulgently.

"Always nice to feel talked about," James said, looking affront at Remus, who looked just as hurt and confused at himself. He had a hard time imagining hiding anything from Harry

"Would you give me a little more credit?" Sirius demanded of him. "If I didn't go out and do it already, than that man isn't going to be the one to cause it, I'll do it because I want to."

"Was that supposed to make me feel better?" Harry demanded, his throat nearly restricting the words at the idea of Sirius leaving again!

Sirius just grumbled a bit, the only thing the others caught were his wishes the Ministry would hurry up and clear his name already, he couldn't take Harry's panicking much longer. Harry

agreed with that at least, wishing something would quiet his mind, at least that.

"Not another book!" James said in exasperation.

"It was too light," Harry disagreed, thinking back, and somehow now feeling worse than ever. His vision started to blur out of focus, and he tried to pass the moment by quickly cleaning his glasses on his shirt, ignoring his hands shaking the whole time.

"You really couldn't have just said what it was," Remus said with intense curiosity.

"Think I might know," James said as he thought about the little description Sirius had given, but it resembled their old mirrors. They still used them on Order meetings to keep in contact with each other, had Sirius possibly rebuilt another pair to do the same with Harry?

When he realized the others were looking at him expectantly, he just shrugged without answering further though. Whatever Sirius had just given Harry, he wanted to know about it as much as

anyone, and he wanted to hear about Harry opening it more than some old idea.

"Harry," Sirius spluttered, hurt really coloring his face now. "It's a gift, you took the last ones happily enough."

Harry wouldn't meet his eyes again.

Even as Sirius groaned with understanding, he didn't feel any better. "You have got to stop worrying about me so much!"

"Kind of hard to do when you won't stop giving me reasons," Harry said back softly, a tight lump balled up at the back of his throat. He couldn't seem to look at his godfather much at all as these memories were returned.

Sirius just huffed, highly tempted to do something that would make Harry have to look at him, at least in exasperation or something, but Lily was still going loudly over Sirius who she thought was being an idiot again.

All of them laughed, probably harder than they should have, but all of them could appreciate a man who joked about what he went through.

Harry was very glad he wasn't the one reading, as he felt his heart growing heavier by the moment. It would be a long time before he came back to Grimmauld place...and that should be a

good thing! It must mean Sirius would be free of there soon...how could that be a bad thing?

"Look, you're teaching him how to do that on purpose," James snorted, none of them thinking much about Harry looking so pale. He was clearly still thinking about Arthur's attack after the man

had just brought it up again.

"Well someone's in a grumpy mood," Sirius snickered.

"That doesn't last long," Lily chuckled.

"Pleasant," Remus crinkled his nose.

"Can't deny I love this match up," James said a little wistfully. Remus had taken no part in singling Harry out for any conversation since he'd met back up with him over the summer, and

that continued to hurt worse the more opportunities he missed. It was like listening to the third book all over again, that constant wonder of what had happened to their Moony. Instead he said aloud so as not to focus on that, "I do love you seem to be spending time with the twins, really makes me wish we could hear those conversations you get up to."

Remus just frowned, as unable to answer that as Harry, but he wholly doubted they were anything as lively as James was thinking, considering he seemed to have lost all sense of fun after his friends had died. Even getting Sirius back hadn't seemed to help with that one bit.

"I guess I should still be glad he's not calling me Neville," Harry said airly.

Harry had a strange expression on his face. He wasn't mad at Stan like he was everyone else in the world for thinking him crazy, but he wouldn't quite call that a compliment either.

"Really, he fell every time?" Sirius asked with disappointment. "I learned to brace myself by at least the third."

"Brace yourself against what?" Harry demanded. "I nearly ripped my arm out of socket hanging onto that thing to keep me upright."

"Permanent sticking charm on one of the chairs," Sirius grinned, "if you'd been on the second floor you'd have seen it."

"I wouldn't call that bracing yourself so much as disturbing public property," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Ernie wasn't pleased," James snickered, "it's still there when they put the beds up, so it's just a random chair that looks funny there."

"Tonks is getting better and better, bribing people to get her way," James snickered.

Harry had never thought about it before, considering he'd never left the school on holiday before, but he suddenly asked, "would we always have gotten there and back by the bus?"

"Depends on you honestly," James shrugged. "Some families don't want to make the trip back to London in the weather so they put together with the school to let you come back through the Floo

system, some pony up for the Bus, others do take the train again."

"Why can't you have all those options every time you go to Hogwarts?" Harry asked, thinking it would be easier on the Weasley's the other two ways.

"Tradition," Lily said. "Since they built Hogwarts they created a magical way to get in and out of the schools borders, and so they created the train to make it an all access kind of thing. Holidays make it a bit more chaotic, constantly checking people in rather than letting them all in at once."

"A bird would be very useful right about now," Sirius grumbled.

"She's being really paranoid today," Sirius kept snickering.

"Maybe she's just proving a point, being so young and all," Remus shrugged.

"Wish I'd told him that myself," Sirius snipped.

That made all of them frown with unease, the two Marauders most of all. Remus hadn't shown he found this a better idea than any of them in here, so why the change this time?

Remus in particular looked troubled at his own words, though he was the only one thinking of the possible reason, and had no want to share it. This more than likely meant he still trusted

Dumbledore absolutely, and when he said Harry needed this than he just automatically agreed. He had no proof of this, but it bothered him he hadn't gotten to hear him talking about this with Sirius. Though he was fairly confident he'd have curled up in a corner and died already if he'd had a book just about what he'd been up to in the meantime, he hadn't seen any evidence it had been anything good.

.

"How has your Monday actually managed to grow worse!" James groaned.

Sirius pressed his hands to Harry's forehead in concern, practically yelling in his ear, "I think his brain melted at some point, there's no way he could be delusional enough to think otherwise!"

Harry pried his fingers away with a glare he couldn't hold for long above the twitching lips for the antics.

"This actually manages to get worse already!" Lily groaned. "Now it's going to be even harder to plan your meetings now that one day a week is tied off!"

"That's actually what you told people?" James demanded, looking faint. "Okay Sirius, check him again, you may be onto something."

Sirius leaned forward again, but Harry smacked his palm away even faster, shaking his head at the two.

"How does this keep getting worse?" James said with disgust.

"No need for permission, the act speaks for itself," Remus said with chipper.

"You know, maybe Harry needs some medicine to cure this suddenly passive phase, it's starting to worry we," Remus couldn't help adding to the joke, Harry rolling his eyes harder than ever.

"Subtle," Lily chuckled, her smile only growing as all of the boys snapped to her attention and Harry groaned with misery louder than ever. He should have stolen the books over night and

edited all the parts with Cho's name out.

"Congratulations Harry, you are officially two years ahead of your father on this accomplishment," Sirius beamed with actual praise while Harry's face already began glowing red again.

"Oh, oh Harry my poor boy," James eyes lit with mirth. "You see when a girl likes a boy, especially a girl you've kissed-"

"Dad," Harry pleaded between gritted teeth. Looking back now he was well aware of what Cho had been asking, but he'd like to see his father at fifteen trying to talk to his mum. Surely he wasn't

all bravado like he claimed.

James only kept himself quiet by the bare amount, wanting to hear this more.

Sirius' shoulders were already shaking with silent laughter, chuckles escaping regularly while Harry considered snatching the book away from Lily and burning a few particular pages. Surely

this couldn't be that vital for them to watch!

"I give it twenty-four hours before it clicks," Sirius managed semi-intelligibly.

"Give him some credit," James tried to say while getting some air back. "He'll figure it out as he's lying in bed tonight."

Remus was laughing too hard to add in while Lily was trying hard not to join in and also looking pitifully at her boy.

All three boys lost it and were still slumped back in their seats laughing as Harry excused himself to the bathroom, not coming out for far longer than was necessary. Upon his reappearance, they

began snickering all over again, but Lily kept reading quickly before they could build themselves up again.

"Valentine's day is my favorite holiday!" Sirius declared.

"That's a pretty big set up you've got, first date being then and all," Remus forced himself to say while wiping away the tears.

"No pressure or anything," Harry hissed.

"You'll be fine Harry," Lily soothed, her own smile still unable to dim as she watched him. "Just be yourself, that's obviously what she's fallen for."

Harry was growing more glad by the minute he hadn't tried asking for advice on this, and was now terrified what Hermione and Ron were going to say as well.

James failed to add for a moment for the quick realization Halloween hadn't been mentioned this year, and he couldn't have been happier considering it's previous mentionings.

"Articulate as always," James jumped back in with glee, beaming at his muttering son.

"I think she technically asked you out, so that shouldn't count," Sirius critiqued.

"I think he should take whatever he can get, all things considered," Remus said with an obvious nod at James, while Sirius conceded the point.

"You do that a bit," Lily told him, the smile already dimming again, "knock then enter, I'm not sure you got the message you're supposed to wait in between."

Harry almost wished to go back to talking about Cho now, rather than all of the dower faces around him again. He couldn't fool himself any more than them this was going to go well.

"I disagree, just because you did it dosen't mean he should accuse you of doing it," James scoffed.

"And yet, if you're going to get accused of doing it, you might as well just do it," Sirius shrugged.

Lily was eyeing the pair, and looked hopefully at Remus as he said, "Rules are like paperclips. Meant to hold things together, fun to bend, and easy to twist out of shape."

Then she sighed and went back to reading loudly before they could impart any more wisdom.

Lily raised an inquisitive brow, but looking up she saw they only looked cross at the idea, James already muttering about hypocrisy. Knowing full well Snape wasn't so stupid as to actually do that, and he in fact likely had one of his own, she just kept going.

"Honestly, I don't even feel like you're exaggerating," Remus sighed.

"A talent he perfected early in life," James scowled, shifting in agitation, automatically wanting to move between Snape and his son picturing such an expression being aimed towards him.

"Only when you deserve it!" James snapped.

"So, when it snows in July," Sirius agreed.

"I can just hear the sincerity," Remus rolled his eyes, even Lily couldn't manage any degree of respect reading about this. He'd done nothing to deserve it, nor could she yet find reason this

wasn't more torture for her son. Maybe if someone would answer some questions of why Harry was being put through this she'd give in a little, find the gratitude buried in her for Snape doing this.

James felt his jaw tensing already, fighting back the urge to wave in Harry's face how founded Sirius' reaction had been now. Harry couldn't ask a single question without being insulted!

"Clever." Remus managed to make the word sound like an insult.

"Oh bollocks," Sirius groaned, quickly explaining before anyone could ask, "remember Harry's first year, that Stone and he was worried Snape read his mind and knew what he knew?"

"Oh," Remus groaned.

"I'm still not quite believing he managed to accomplish this, as hard as it is to do," James snapped.

"In layman's terms, it is," Lily agreed.

"Snape's just trying to make himself seem intelligent by correcting you," Sirius scowled.

"And failing," Remus grumbled.

Lily shot them all a look of agitation. They were no better than Snape constantly insulting him after everything he said. Still, she'd rather ignore them for now, as they at least knew all this, she still wanted to know why Harry was supposed to so young.

This didn't feel like much of an answer, as it was all they had worked out for themselves last year, what they wanted to know was why it was becoming more intense!

"I can see what you're doing Harry," Lily said softly, "but what it does to you still outweighs whatever potential you're thinking. It's dangerous, you come away from it in pain every time worst than the last, and an open connection is certainly not healthy! If," she stressed the word, "this does work, than you certainly need to use it, or your fears from earlier really could happen, and Voldemort could know what you do. Best to shut this off if you have a chance."

Harry wanted to argue the point, that anger flaring in him again from the other night. His safety shouldn't make anyone's else's death okay. He couldn't do that to his mother though, her eyes

pleading with him to at least give this a chance. It felt pointless to argue that, considering, and so he held his tongue between his teeth, for now.

"How dare he ask for clarification! It's as if he's supposed to be reading his mind already," Remus snapped.

"Maybe he wouldn't if you'd say something useful," Sirius ground out.

Lily was about ready to snap the book in half in frustration. Severus was trying to say so, if he'd quite being interrupted by these petulant boys! She'd gathered it for herself already though, and by their stark expressions, they had to and were just lashing out.

So their guess had been right, and Voldemort had seen inside his own snake? Controlled Nagini? Just what kind of magic was that? It was infuriating they kept getting more questions than

answers.

"Who'd have thought from him of all people," James said with further anger at Dumbledore. He still wanted his answer of why that man who'd claimed so much responsibility for Harry's life had suddenly disappeared when Harry needed him most.

"Naww, does the poor little Death Eater need his Dark Lord's permission to take a piss as well?" Sirius snarled in disgust, he couldn't imagine being so afraid of something he had to use some

other stupid name to call it.

.

"I'd like to burn something else into his skin," James snarled.

Lily tasted copper in her mouth, and hadn't realized she'd been scraping her teeth against her lip as she paused for breath in reading this, so hard it cut her lip. She couldn't stand this, thinking about this connection happening to her son, having to have this explained by someone who detested him. Why couldn't Sirius be doing this if not Dumbledore, at least he'd show some kindness in his effort to explain. What on earth possessed Dumbledore to entrust this task to someone so despised, it's not as if Harry trusted him, so she couldn't blame him for questioning all of this the way he was.

None of this was helping the revelation of why this had happened, not that they'd really gotten that, more of a confirmation they were right in saying this was different.

"After every other word eh? You sure demand a lot of special treatment," Sirius sneered.

"No, it is not." James said flatly. "There is no way Dumbledore put this together without some theory as to why it happened!"

"It's that bit of Voldemort he accidentally put in me," Harry quietly reminded, still unbelieving they'd taken that in stride back in his second year when it still made him feel contaminated if he thought about it too long. He began running his hand through his hair in agitation again, brushing his bangs down over his scar despite how unnecessary it really was in here, the only place where they never wanted to look at his scar for the reminder of what it would mean to them.

"Well, yes but I thought that was more like-" Sirius wavd his hand at Remus for help.

"Magical residue? Maybe a bit of magical backlash from a spell gone wrong that emanated from his wand," he offered.

"Yes, that," Sirius kept going. "I didn't think he meant, literally! The worst side effect we've put down to that so far was the Parseltongue, but this seeing into his head bit is..." he trailed off shaking his own head as he ran out of words to describe all this.

Harry started edging away from Sirius a bit, his skin crawling with nerves. Sirius looked really upset about this, and if Harry's reminder had somehow put the thought into his head there was something wrong with Harry-

Sirius scurried that idea from him at once as he reached over and ruffled Harry's hair. "Would you stop doing that. I get it's a nervous tick, but it's unnatural for me to see even a hair lying flat."

Harry brushed his hand away even as he couldn't help smiling at him again.

James made a blistering noise, already wanting to tow Harry out of the room himself so he could have a private chat with old Snivellus!

Lily on the other hand finally put together why Snape of all people would have been picked for this. She'd never gone through the process herself, but had heard tales from some of the oldest

seventh years who had begun the process of learning it, and all they spoke about was how excruciating the process was. Someone like Sirius would probably go easy on Harry then, considering he was even younger, but some cold hearted distance could be a better teacher, until he took it to far and Lily would have to start breaking fingers. Still, in the wake of this revelation,

she felt a small bit of thawing around his name she hadn't felt in a while. She didn't know why Snape was doing this, simply because Dumbledore told him to? Yet he was doing it, and that

finally earned him a morsel more of respect than he'd gained this whole time he'd been in Harry's life.

"He's really not that hard to figure out," Sirius scoffed, while Remus more kindly explained, "if you're going to learn Occlumency, even though he's going to be the one going through your head, it does make sense for the teacher to ah, put away any thoughts they wouldn't want on display." He finished with a disgusted twist of his own lips though he'd had to refer to Snape like that.

"Aptitude," James repeated with a sniff, still considering what Harry had done an even more impressive feat than his Patronus.

"What?" Lily shrieked as she glared at the page, her nails nearly breaking through in frustration.

"That's all the information he gives you, to block and prepare yourself? I am going to kill him!"

"What was I supposed to do?" Harry couldn't help but ask a bit timidly in the face of her wrath.

Lily took a deep breath before answering, "I'll be honest, I'm not sure, never having studied it myself, but I know there must be more."

"I actually find it a bit like casting a Patronus," Remus shrugged, "concentrate on one thing to block out what you're really thinking."

Harry looked to him in surprise, asking, "is that why Dumbledore and Snape never figured out Sirius was an animagus from you? Can you do this?"

"Oh, no," he quickly waved off, "at least I wouldn't think so, most likely I avoided thinking about it all together." He finished with a terrible wince for even thinking of what he'd think of Sirius in the future. He tried to shake that off around a suddenly burning throat, "been practicing it a bit, all

of the Order has I thought."

"Dumbledore never said anything to me," James said in surprise, Lily nodding as well. Remus looked just as shocked.

"Err," he said uneasily, exchanging an uneasy look with Sirius, who looked just as mystified. "We only started practicing on each other last week because Dumbledore mentioned something about

it, I'm sure he will to you two soon."

The couple still exchanged an unsatisfied look, but didn't argue the point. The only reason Remus and Sirius had been here to begin with when this started was because they'd just returned from a two week long mission, so it wasn't impossible to believe something new had happened, just surprising.

Lily managed to shake the whole thing off by going back to finding out what Snape was fixing to do to her son.

"That is most certainly not how you're supposed to practice," Sirius hissed, especially on someone's very first try as a beginner! "Give him a little warning for what's fixing to happen, how about a suggestion for how to block it other than brace yourself!"

Harry shivered as he ran his fingers through his hair, his head already aching again from this experience.

"Oh yes, because this is really what I wanted to remember!" James snarled in outrage, already wondering how many times Vernon had strangled his son in between those memories again!

Remus couldn't help but hum curiously even while he was scowling for Harry's closed eyes, he could only imagine thinking about all of those things again would hurt him at any time. Still, it

was fascinating that this was just a touch like his Imperius training, and Harry's resistance stemmed from his will of what he did and didn't want to show someone.

Sirius was growling hatefully even as a twisted smirk appeared. Finally Harry was getting just the smallest payback, and Snape couldn't do anything, considering he'd told Harry to fight back

however he could. Not that this would stop Snape from giving Harry a detention on top of everything, but he could dream.

"He never had control," Lily spat, her hand twitching more every moment to rest on her own wand, sick of his teachings that were now hurting him more than just bad grades.

"You're ugly step-sister," Remus grumbled.

"No!" James snarled, "no he will not be getting anything of the sort so long as he continues to torture you with smirking!"

Harry was starting to miss Umbridge's detentions as he rubbed hard at his forehead, the anger around him while comforting on his behalf, helping nothing with the pain of all those memories

flashing back to him so suddenly, already leaving him feeling weak kneed even while sitting down.

"That is actually impossible," Sirius scoffed. "The moment you try to do anything of the sort, you start feeling annoyed because you can't do it."

Harry tried to offer Sirius a smile no matter how forced it felt.

"Or his," James huffed.

Lily inhaled sharply, the burn of that memory crackling through her full of so many things, double upon her son. What she would give to take that all away from him...

"Yeah, after he'd already been through the most traumatic thing in his life, so helpful!" Remus said aghast, looking from Harry to the book and not for the first time wondering how the poor kid still had any sanity after all he'd been through.

"I'm well past that," James vowed, his hatred for the slimeball in school holding nothing for what the man had become. His abuse of Harry, his belittling of his best friend, what he'd tried to do to Remus and Sirius. No, there wasn't a chance in Merlin's mind Snape was going to live when James got out of here.

"Realized what?" Sirius tried to keep the savagery out of his voice while speaking directly to Harry.

Harry didn't answer, but it was clear from his face he wished he hadn't. He was drawn tight into himself now, his eyes fixed on a point none of them realized. Whatever he'd just put together, he

was going to live to regret it.

Lily finished with ice replacing her veins. She couldn't help her mind flashing back to his first two years, how he'd figured out where something was being kept and so had launched himself after it.

"Oh," the Marauders all muttered, but they'd already put this together last night, not that it made any more sense now. Why was Harry reacting again?

Harry wasn't even sure himself, he could just feel the difference. Of having an answer in knowing, and his memories also doing the same. In here it was a relief, but for his time then he didn't want to know what he'd do with this.

Harry rubbed hard at his ear to get rid of the ringing noise suddenly erupting, some lie hidden in Snape's words he no more wanted to understand at this moment than his last realization.

"That you don't know either and you're just failing to sound smart again," Remus grumbled, even if he knew that not to be true, or at least, Snape may be as aware as the rest of the Order, still didn't mean he had to acknowledge it happily.

"I thought he said once a week!" Lily snarled in frustration. "What's this coming back two days later?"

"He reset them for Wednesdays, guess he just wanted that extra day to torture me my first back," Harry said bitterly.

"I do not understand how that would make things harder for someone to read my mind," Harry said, venting all of his frustrations with his jumble of emotions into this problem he could complain about. "Wouldn't that make things easier!"

"I can see it working both ways," Remus sighed with frustration. "Too many emotions, and the Legilimens can peel them all apart and see what's causing them, yet being of no emotion means

you're also more likely to feel one very strongly if a memory does pop up. I really wish we had more practice at this, I do agree this just can't be that helpful-"

"Coming from Snape of all people," Sirius finished bitterly. Remus rolled his eyes as that hadn't been what he was going to say, but also had nothing to argue the point.

Lily was blinking more than was necessary to keep her eyes focused, rather than constantly darting to her son. He was shaky and pale in here from remembering this happening to him, she

imagined he was even worse at the time.

"I'm sure that's just your imagination," James said evasively. "It's a mark, can't be glowing or anything."

Harry sighed, his fingers tracing the familiar pattern without answer.

Sirius wondered if there was something else about that, something that had been bugging his mind earlier at St. Mungo's, but then that heart breaking seen with Alice and Frank had taken place,

now he was trying to remember what he couldn't even remember before!

They hadn't much of a chance to question that themselves, but none of them could disagree with Hermione either. Lily still hesitated a moment before saying, "do you think something happened, and he was trying to get whatever it was out, but got caught?"

"That could be," James agreed, his brow creased in agitation they didn't have more information about this. Why would the Order suddenly decide to move it? What had been the change there?

Too much was going on they just weren't privy to, Harry never seeming to be told enough.

"Sounds more like a disaster waiting to happen," Remus corrected with a huffy breath. He couldn't find much more comfort the Ministry had whatever this was over Voldemort, considering

how many Death Eaters they knew had access to the place same as the Order.

Sirius brushed up against Harry in commiseration, he hadn't much of a talent for it either the few times he'd tried.

"Finally!" James burst out so loud Lily nearly dropped the book in surprise before glaring at her husband, the baby across the room giggling madly as he heard his father's voice. "I've been

waiting ages to hear more about this!"

Lily hesitated for a moment before going back with the smallest of smiles, but he wasn't wrong. This was something normal, to giggle and envision what the twins were up to again rather than

snake attacks and what Voldemort was up to.

Sirius hummed thoughtfully before shaking his head slowly. "I guess they all can't be Skiving Snack boxes, this is more like a cheap one second trick."

"Still, credit to them for putting this together, it's more than anyone else ever bothered to do," Remus shrugged as he grinned lightly.

"A first for her I'm sure," James snickered.

Lily was smiling in appreciation as well, she would love to meet the twins just to ask them how they'd managed to only make the charm extend across the head rather than the whole person like

most spells of that type would do. They were ingenious little buggers.

"I think I'm getting jealous," James pouted as he caught her grin. "You think they're cleverer than us?!"

"Then you dear? No, never."

James actually pouted at her for the sarcasm, while Lily took advantage of Harry laughing loudly to keep going before she was accosted by all three of them.

James let the moment go just because Lily's picking had managed to push that feeling off of Harry for even a second in here, he'd get back at his wife later.

"Forgetting was never the problem," Sirius rolled his eyes, "it's finding the time to do it."

Harry begrudgingly pulled that out instead, the little book telling him not to leave it till later, calling him a second rater as he jotted down Umbridge's undone assignment.

"I can't decide what I want to burn alive more, the woman or the work," James huffed.

"Need kindling to get started," Remus offered helpfully.

"Ergh, as if that wasn't Hermione's quote already, now we have inanimate objects doing it to," Remus grumbled.

Causing all four of them to snort with laughter at Harry's unintentional continuation of the joke.

Lily started fidgeting with the pages uneasily, hating that Harry's humor was already drying up in here again, he was already back to rubbing at his scar. She'd lose her mind if he suffered another of those visions again already, surely another Order member wasn't going to be attacked so soon after the last! She wanted Harry to just this once tell her she was being paranoid and reading those signs wrong.

Lily made a keening noise of frustration, fighting back the urge to throw the book away and run to her son now. She didn't know what she'd do if he fell back into that fear of what Voldemort was doing to him, they'd only just gotten it through his head he was safe here, but if something happened now-no! She cut the thought off, watching him steadily until he forced himself to meet her eyes. He still had his hand pressed firmly to his scar, his eyes shining with fear and pain, but he was aware enough to egg her on, to reveal this new horror.

"Why does Ron think smacking you is helpful!" Sirius burst out, his eyes too wide from continued panick.

"He's as violent as you?" Remus offered, staring shrewdly at the book and forcing himself to do no more than that, rather than go for his wand with the baby still cuddled up in his lap.

"The weapon?" James began in a panic, if they lost that he didn't want to know how much worse things were going to get.

"No," Harry spoke in a detached way, trying to think back to that feeling while also not let it consume him into laughing maniacally in here as well. "No, it was something else-"

"Okay, okay, I'm almost done," Lily cut in gently, trying to hurry up and finish now before Harry did something everyone would regret.

"Why, it's not like he can think you're anymore crazy," Remus muttered to himself. He honestly couldn't imagine how Seamus couldn't believe Harry anymore after what he'd seen, surely he knew Harry couldn't push a lie that far. What had happened to Harry should have been proof enough for any non believers something was going on in the magical world.

"How is that helpful!" James snarled in frustration. "Making him more vulnerable, I'm going to rip someone's tongue out if they don't explain why Harry's being put through this, and it's just making things worse!"

"Start with Dumbledore," Sirius told him helpfully with the same scowl in place.

Lily hardly had a second to look to her son, her mouth seemingly set in that uneasy frown she held for him and everyone of his time for this happening, when the sensory alarm went off, someone

was here.

HPHPHPHP

I know the timing is unbelievable, but it makes for a great cliff hanger rather than happening in the middle of a chapter and cutting off whatever's going on. Sorry for asking for a little suspension of disbelief for the timing.

I would be terrible at Occlumency/ Legilimency. I know that's how most people even try to fall asleep, but I actually let my mind wander and create things in my head until I fall asleep without

realizing it. Also I get really easily distracted. So on these basis, though I'm not really sure if I trust Snape to be supplying the most helpful advice learning this, you think you'd be any good?

*I actually read this really interesting fan theory that Tonks and Lupin were having an argument about them getting together. Lupin was again telling her she was too young for him, and you

know what Tonks does? Disguises herself as an elder woman for their return trip in spite. Also why she's so extra on edge during the trip, trying to prove to Remus she takes her job as seriously,(shut up Sirius!) as anyone his age. Just something that amused me.


	25. THE BEETLE AT BAY

"Oof!" Harry gasped in surprise, as Sirius had at once tackled him out of sight of the front window. At the same time, a spell blasted him from a side he couldn't even see so it must have

been done silently, and then the baby was crying in surprise as Remus all but Apparated to the kitchen, wand clutched as tightly as the baby.

There was not a second more to react as the front door opened obnoxiously and an unfamiliar voice called out, "hey, Potter, you home? Mr. or Mrs. I don't really care right now-"

"Dammit man, you nearly gave me heart failure," James gasped, lowering his wand as a Weasley poked his head into the living room for the source of the voice.

At least Harry was quite sure of the last name, even not recognizing the man. He had the same vivid red hair of his best friend and a splash of freckles across his face. There was even something familiar about the stocky build and crooked grin that reminded him of, Fred?

"Gideon, what are you-"

"Black!" The man interrupted in exasperation.

Sirius straitened uneasily from crouching over Harry, but his grin flipped at once into place, even as Harry lay completely still he couldn't spot a trace of concern in his godfather. "Do you knock much? This is my best mate's house, not yours."

"Your own faults for leaving the door open," Gideon shrugged without remorse, a clear mocking expression he'd shocked the man so bad he'd rolled off his seat. Then he cocked his head to the

side and looked to the kitchen where the infant's crying was just now subsiding. "Lupin here to? You couple a wankers, you four realize you missed an Order meeting last night? I got sent over here to find out why, and inform your best mate you missed your check in."

Sirius managed to scowl while looking properly chagrined. "Right, about that, err, Remus had a bit of a rough night so we came straight here, and he's only just woken up so I was staying behind to check on him."

"And all three of you had to do that eh?"

There wasn't real skepticism in his voice, but it was clear he found something off. Lily must have noticed, as she stepped forward and started ushering him to the kitchen. "Well he's in there making some tea now, you and Sirius join him to get this mess out of the way."

Sirius gave an exaggerated yawn, and an even more exaggerated shake as he walked over Harry, following them out. James cast one more uneasy look where he'd last seen Harry before following, considering he didn't have a suspicious reason not to.

Harry stayed where he was, not moving an inch, yet his heart still thudding so loudly he was grateful it hadn't given him away. He finally shifted his eyes down and saw that he'd been

disillusioned, likely missing the cold sensation from his rush of shock.

He could very faintly hear voices from the kitchen, certainly surmrise the easy tone they were all using which was probably what had stopped Remus bolting out the back door in the first place if that's what he'd heard from here. He started to worry when he grew stiff from his position, wondering how long disillusionment charms lasted, and very much wishing he'd asked Moody to teach him the spell when he'd had the chance. Dare he make a move for the Invisibility Cloak while he had the chance? He wasn't even sure his wand would work on the false wall, but it was better than lying here waiting to be discovered, he didn't know what would happen to his family if he was, let alone him.

He'd just convinced himself to at least go hide in the bathroom rather than the middle of the floor when he heard scraping chairs and voices back in the hallway. He checked one last time to make sure he still blended with his surroundings as Gideon's voice said, "-let this happen again, you'll have Dumbledore start questioning you lot. I warned him about something like this happening, you lot ain't even thirty yet-"

"I resent that!" Sirius snapped.

"And resemble it," he heard Remus mutter even more quietly.

"I promise Gideon, it was a one time thing," Lily spoke over both of them.

"We've far too much invested in, affairs," James agreed, an edge to his voice that made Harry's skin crawl as he remembered who all his family wanted to have a word with involving the Order.

Something of this must have meant something to Gideon as well, his tone just a touch more understanding now, "alright then, happens to the best of us."

Harry heard the door open again, before Gideon said his last piece, "well you lot look after yourselves." Then in a much more affectionate tone, "and have the little guy come over some

time," he made a little coo noise and the baby responded back with a giggle. "Molly'd love the company."

"It's on my to do list," Lily promised, before there was a snap, and quiet came.

"I should at least get to have the privilege of shoving his wand up his arse," Sirius muttered as he stomped back into the living room. "Scaring the bleeding piss out of us."

"Maybe if Remus would stop losing his keys, I'd actually lock the door once in awhile," James rebutted good naturedly.

"It's hard keeping track of the one key." He protested, "we don't use one to lock our flat, you know that, it was an Apparition only. Why do you think it was so cheap?"

"I keep offering to give him one to my bike, but for some reason, he makes that face," Sirius snickered.

They hesitated for one more moment, Lily hovering next to the window just to be sure, before she hissed, "Harry?"

"Yeah," he called back just as softly, "still down here."

She took a moment to aim carefully, and then Harry sighed in relief as he got to his feet, shaking his limbs to get some feeling back.

"So that's Gideon Prewett eh?"

"Far as we know," Sirius rolled his eyes, "or it could have been Fabian, they're as bad as Fred and George with that gag of theirs, but they're a tad less fun about it when you swap them, so I think Prongs guessed right."

Harry hesitated uneasily before whispering, "did I get you guys in trouble?"

James said no at once, but Lily sighed and admitted, "it did look suspicious, Remus' full moon was four nights ago after all, but as long as we've been with the Order now I think we worked it out alright."

Harry still fidgeted guilty, but James seemed determined to wave the whole thing off now as he collected the book that had fallen to the floor. "Honestly Harry, don't worry about it. Besides, the faster we're done with these things, the faster that you can meet the Order yourself and this whole mess can be sorted out."

Harry was still worried though. Gideon may go back and tell everything was okay, but what if someone else came to check on their absence, a particular rat who would be very confused why

his three best friends had skipped without mentioning it to him? But he'd said the last time, hadn't he, he wouldn't be back around for quite some time, and hadn't disclosed why. Would this change things, make him come back around sooner? Harry wasn't even sure if he wanted that to happen or not...

James was already flipping back through chapters looking for his place, Lily sinking down in relief beside him. Remus and Sirius exchanged one last look before glaring at the door, as if daring

it to do that to them again before they took their seats back as well. Clearly outvoted, Harry returned his attention back to this, for now.

James grunted in agitation, he hadn't really wanted an answer to this, but he supposed it was some kind of good thing he was getting one so soon instead of having to wait forever like every other question he had.

"That was not encouraging," Sirius muttered, his face already twisted with dislike before he got an explanation.

James voice hitched in his throat, gazing with unfiltered fear at that last word before glancing wordlessly at his best mate, whose features had turned icy at the reminder of the place. He had not a clue what this could be about, but he already felt who this was going to be hardest on. If Sirius' name came back up in conjunction with that place again, he was probably going to have to resuscitate him what with all the terrible fears he'd been feeling of being cooped up back in Grimmauld place.

Even having been one of the first people they'd found out we're going to die, somehow having just had some morning tea with the man still made this news feel sharper. It was made all the worse they could put a name to the man who would do it. For Harry it felt even worse, he could feel that thorn in his mind promising the violence wouldn't end. Names and fears crowded together inside him that he had no hope of understanding, and he was almost grateful for it.

Harry shivered hard at the reminder of that name, red fumed memories tainted and waiting to throw him into a deep abyss if he dared peak.

Sirius continued to grow more sallow in here until he resembled a bleached copy of himself at the idea of retaining any features from the woman who would do that to someone he considered a

friend. He wanted to be mad, to rage at Harry he was nothing like that excuse for a human being, but as of now he was afraid of feeling anything in fear of drawing dementors here.

Harry wanted to catch Sirius' eye, in that moment he was desperate for his godfather to look at him for a promise that everything would be okay again no matter how much he got angry when they tried to do it, but he needed one now. Sirius wouldn't look at him though, he wasn't looking at anyone, but instead he was watching the fire, eyes unfocused as if he weren't even here.

Lily spluttered for a moment before starting to twist some hair around her fingers in agitation. She didn't like that was just posted on the front of a paper where you could also find the morning weather. It felt callous, all of those had! Neville had clearly not told many people, and now it wouldn't be hard for them to put the pieces together.

"Why would they use Bellatrix's maiden name," Remus forced out quietly, his face already simmering below shouting levels if he used anything else.

James had no response. No wisecrack came to mind, no udder of denial was enough to cover this.

Lily felt a mess of things well up in her, not least of which was she wanted to weep for him and what this could mean. What if they finally acknowledged Voldemort was back, but they tried to

blame it all on Sirius! He'd escaped and a year later Voldemort had returned, she could easily envision the Ministry making that leap after this new slander, and she'd want to return the favor by tearing their throats out!

Sirius looked slowly around at them, Lily opening and closing her mouth but nothing getting through, James and Remus threatening murder again, Harry's visible outrage, and he smiled. He could feel what a lopsided, twisted thing it was considering this wasn't funny, but he could also imagine reading this news at Grimmauld place and sitting there all alone feeling everything they were, in his own shadowed corner. So he started giggling.

"Padfoot, I swear-"

"No, no," he ducked as Remus actually moved to start smothering him. "I'm not for the reason you think I am, I swear! Just, just keep going Prongs," he managed to insist past his hysterics of

gratitude he wasn't alone now.

The best thing in the world was his best mate scowling at him, but then there was just the smallest spark of understanding in his eyes and he kept going.

"How?" Lily's voice broke over the word, in fear or anger they still weren't sure. "I honestly, I just can't believe this, what is happening!"

"The world's joining the toilet," Sirius offered, still with that insufferable look in place Lily wanted to curse off. Of all the times for Sirius to force his sense of humor on them! Never mind that she almost found it a comfort he could laugh in the face of this again, even if it was going to drive her crazy instead.

"Oh trust me, we're all well aware," Remus said in disgust, still eying Sirius with concern at his forced bravado through all this. He couldn't play off forever this wasn't getting to him, and Remus was getting worried what he'd really do when that happened, most likely much worse than just leaving this place and being knocked out again. James was clearly going out of obligation for his son at this point to get through these, otherwise he probably would have quit at the start of three out of sheer anger for what was being done to his friends. It somehow managed to keep getting worse. Remus just wished he had something more to offer than to be angry for them. He was already a useless waste in this future, he should be able to do something for them in here!

"I mean, under other circumstances, I can't even blame them for that one," Sirius had his head cocked to the side, ignoring his double vision from forcing himself to pay attention to this rather than the screaming rant he really did want to give.

"You mean they never even reported Jr.!" Harry spluttered in outrage as he realized this. "How- they actually managed to cover that whole thing up!"

He didn't get an answer, and he wasn't expecting one. He knew with the Ministry trying to discredit Dumbledore at every turn now that anything he'd had to say would be tarnished, but it

was maddening they wouldn't admit to one single thing they'd done wrong in the past two years of his life, what else were they covering up?

"I never even captioned the Quidditch team, what makes them think I can pull this off?" Sirius asked with an insufferable attempt at politeness, every one of them now fighting the impulse to hit him themselves already.

"Because that worked out so well the last time," Remus sneered.

"Paper was finally done," James told them in clipped tones, realizing that was all the information they were going to get on this for now.

Lily had finally collected the energy to finish her outrage. "How did this happen? They can't get away with this one, they just can't! No one will buy the dementors just stood by and let this happen, inside job my arse! The dementors defected, there is no other explanation! In piling up their own lies, they're only forcing people to see the truth that much sooner!"

"I find it a bleeding miracle this was put in at all instead of what type of crumpet Fudge had for breakfast," Remus agreed.

"There's no way they wouldn't get caught if they didn't report something like this," James disagreed critically. "Even with the very low amount of check ups that go into that place, they clearly decided it was better to stay ahead of this in case one of them was spotted."

Harry didn't have the air to add in, he was still too focused on his own deep seated worry. How things kept getting worse rather than better as he sat in school and did nothing. The DA was the

only way he could fight back, and it didn't feel as if it would help for much longer before something irreversible happened because of all this.

Harry rubbed furiously at his temple for the reminder he hadn't needed from Ron.

"So much for being in Kolkata," James murmured, heart tightening painfully as he envisioned them grabbing back one of those convicts, the entirely wrong one! If Fudge got wind something

was up in the Auror department and Sirius was much closer to home...but no! Sirius was fine, the Order would look after him and he'd keep his nose safe because he had to!

"That didn't make any of this any better," Lily said through gritted teeth, even when this one wasn't Hermione's fault.

Sirius felt a bitter sigh escape him. What he would give for Harry to be the same way, to just be reading about his pup complaining about a normal detention and wondering who next to pull mischief on. The poor kid ran a terrible life that only seemed to be getting worse.

"Well that can't be good," Remus muttered, wondering what new form of evil she could pass in the farce of a decree in her efforts to stop them talking next.

"At this point I can't even blame you," James agreed, his eyes trying to skip ahead lines now to see this new misfortune as well.

"Who would have thought I'd ever be grateful it's not another headline about me," Sirius sighed.

Sirius grumbled in agitation he still couldn't place where he'd heard that name before. Wait, had it something to do with those Ministry- "Chicken!" Sirius suddenly burst out for no discernable reason other than to interrupt.

"Sirius, we just had breakfast-" Lily said in exasperation, but he ignored her as well, babbling at top speed with a look of relief on his face. "I remember where I heard Bode's name, that bloke from St. Mungo's who couldn't talk, or was just starting to talk, whatever! Fire breathing chicken, he was in the elevator on the way to Harry's trial!"

There was an echoing silence for a moment before Remus told him, "you're mind works in the strangest way."

Sirius shrugged in relief, finally satisfied that odd tickle was gone from his mind.

Oddly though, this made Harry start to frown again with unease. Just what was it about the name Bode he was supposed to be remembering? Sirius was lucky he'd had his moment, because Harry struggled with every one of his.

James couldn't help his brows creep with interest at this, understanding now why it had distracted Hermione from the larger matter he was still plenty outraged about. This was certainly...new.

Remus scrutinized this for a moment before finally blurting out, "you must be kidding. Why did someone kill a mental person?"

"You got me," James agreed before shushing him for the rest.

"Now I'm done," James finished.

"Yes, thank you for that wonderful conclusion," Remus snipped before pressing his point. "I mean it, the bloke couldn't say his own name, what on earth was the real story there?"

"I really wish we knew," Sirius grumbled as he ran his hand through his hair in agitation, always feeling like he was missing part of the story, even the ones he was involved in.

"Oh Harry no," Lily said at once. "You can't be blamed for this, it would have happened whether you'd been there or not-"

"But we were there," Harry stated. "What's the use of being around if not to help when we could have."

"For the same reason you can't stop every man jumping in front of a bus," Lily said, her tone itching towards real concern. "Things happen around you Harry, but it's not your fault if you

couldn't stop them."

He only nodded to appease her, but not for the first time wondered just what good he'd ever done anyone.

"Oh Ron can't mean that one," James rolled his eyes. "He must know as well as anyone this was no accident."

"Maybe it could have been though," Lily strained to keep some peace in any life. "Deliveries get mispackaged, what if this was supposed to be sent somewhere else, and that Healer truly wouldn't know the difference if she'd never touched it herself."

James took a moment to appraise her, see her desperate plea for something not to be hate and murder, and nodded slowly. "You're right Lils, accidents do happen out there."

Lily leaned into him with one gnot of unease finally releasing her, more grateful than ever to the man she'd married.

"Congradulations! Someone helped beef up security at St. Mungo's, they probably won't be accepting anonymous gifts now!" Sirius jumped in and tried to praise this situation, Lily scowling at him for what she thought of as sarcasm. Sirius just huffed he wasn't appreciated enough.

"How do you still manage to remember things before me," Harry huffed.

"It's alright Harry," Sirius said bracingly, "as my wondrous friends so frequently point out, my mind is a steel trap that forgets nothing."

"I said you're an idiot who who can't remember anything except when the next meal is," Remus corrected.

"Actually you told him his mind works in strange ways, I think both count here," James grinned, actually grinned at his two friends, every second of his life now set on the idea he'd never have to go without seeing this.

"It was implied," Remus rolled his eyes while James swallowed a laugh and kept going.

"Oh," they all muttered, rather forcefully dropped back into the story at the mention of that.

"Well, that just made a lot more sense," Lily shivered.

"He was working with the Death Eater's to try and get this mystery thing out of there as well, but something went wrong," James concluded.

"So someone silenced him," Remus agreed.

James gave an apologetic look to Lily who was frowning deeply at all of this, and he could honestly understand why. He could feel more every day what would happen to his friends and how it was getting to him, the same thing was happening to her on the wider scale of the world, all the injustice that never ended. He tried to hurry on, wanting to hear about a lesson already, anything but Hermione finding another article in the paper.

"I love it when she does that," Sirius said, only half being sarcastic now. "It usually means something's fixing to happen that I like."

"I just wish she'd explain before she goes off," James agreed, still scrutinizing that one, but pleased one of his wishes had come true, at least in the short term.

All five of them felt their faces fold in concern at the same time. If they could have an answer to something going on, they wished it was whatever had really happened to Hagrid, as clearly it was still affecting him.

"I wish I was more surprised," Remus snapped.

"Still plenty disgusted by it," Sirius sneered.

"I sincerely doubt it's a secret," James scowled. "Surprised Umbridge hasn't posted that news as the headline herself."

"What I saw was a prejudice lugie who needs to have a run in with a spit already," Lily said flatly.

"Oh please stop tempting fate Harry, it usually dumps twice as much back," James sighed.

"I hope he keeps that expression when I create The Amazing Bouncing Ferret, the Squeakquel," Sirius vowed.

"Well that I actually believe," Lily sighed. Not many people read the paper for any of the important stories, which is probably why the Ministry still published them, to claim they were keeping people informed in as little detail as possible."

James had to pause there to reread that one, mostly for the Shrieking Shack line.

"Did the whole school find out about me being in there?" Sirius demanded in confusion.

"Peeves spread it around," Harry confirmed. "Of course the whole thing got jumbled, I even heard one girl telling you were actually the ghost haunting that place, but now most people are aware it's somehow connected to the grounds and you can get in and out of there some way. Never heard anything more clear than that."

"Well thankfully we'll never get a repeat of any kind of Sirius' incident," Remus said with absolute confidence. "The Death Eaters aren't stupid enough to come after the school with Dumbledore here."

James tried to nod in agreement, but instead managed to let his glasses fall of his face he was jerking so much. He quickly put them back and kept going loudly before Sirius could suggest,

again, he permanently stick them in place, no one noticing a similar reaction passing over Harry.

"Maybe this'll make them all realize how Harry feels," James said grimly, he still couldn't think about his son's fame without a whirl of emotions, none of them good.

"I guess the empathy's kind of nice," Lily said grudgingly.

"Still wouldn't have asked for it like this," Harry said softly, he'd never want anyone else to know what it felt like to be him.

"Would you look at that, they've grown brains," Remus politely applauded.

"Only took them half a year, guess they can't all be as rational as us," Sirius smirked.

"I think you meant orotund," Lily pleasantly corrected.

Sirius frowned, not recognizing the word, but sure by her tone he knew the meaning so scowled at her for good measure.

She continued by ignoring him, "I'm just happy it's happening at all, I've sympathy for them not wanting to believe it even when it was in their face."

"How was that nicer than what they said?" James politely asked.

"I didn't try to insult the students while praising myself, you lot do that enough yourself," she smirked.

Harry was laughing too hard for the argument to keep going with any amount, so James rolled his eyes before continuing.

"Must be as hard for the teachers as it was for Harry to find a moment of not being watched by the toad," Remus said in sympathy.

"Oh no," Lily mouthed in horror as James read out a new level of idiotic.

"I was joking!" Remus spluttered, hardly pausing for breath as he explained his earlier thought. "Merlin, I think I'm more insulted I'm still surprised she's doing this!"

"I'm more insulted she keeps getting away with it," Lily corrected with pure disgust.

"Thank you!" James burst out with pride. "Finally, someone really showing Umbridge just how ludicrous all of this was, I was beginning to fear everyone in this school was just playing along with them!"

Harry watched them all hiss at the reminder of that, he rubbing at the back of his hand again in sympathy.

Sirius gave a hollow laugh for such a dream, when he more envisioned chucking her into Azkaban instead. He didn't need dementors there, she could just rot in a cell and left to die and he'd be happy.

James groaned loudly in pity for the two of them. Neither were, ahem, perfect teachers really, but neither had ever done anything so bad as to deserve this! Okay, so maybe Trelawney had irked them one too many times, especially last year when Harry'd had that dream in her class. Okay, Hagrid and those Skrewts had crossed the limit of what he should be bringing to class, but the real trauma was that Snape wasn't on that list! He'd done far worse than the two of them put together, where was his sacking slip!

Lily groaned in sympathy though. Not even liking Trelawney she would have long since stepped in and told Umbridge to march herself back out and go do her own work, though in her opinion it only showed how much effort Umbridge had to put into her own classes to be seen in so many others.

Remus frowned in confusion, easily remembering her rarity of doing this from all of Harry's previous years.

"The poor broads as crazy as I always said she was," Sirius said, but there was nothing but sorrow in his voice. Even after the prophecy she'd declared that had nearly ended his life, this wasn't exactly what he would have wanted to happen to her in return. He wouldn't wish that toad on anyone.

"Yet the probability of both being gone is far more likely, as he said, it was only a matter of who first," Remus muttered for himself.

"It felt like he'd never even come back," Harry whispered.

Lily bit hard at her lip, wanting more every moment to go to him and wrap him tight in her arms, promise this would somehow get better, but they were all running out of that assurance the more

Umbridge did.

James had tensed more with every line, unable to imagine his old school falling into such a grim form of itself for his son, the one reprieve he'd ever had in his life.

While unsurprised by this, they all wanted to praise Neville in that moment for taking this the right direction, rather than curling up in a corner and crying as he was entitled to do at that woman escaping back into any section of his life. He had something to fight for now.

Lily almost threatened to tear up at this news. She'd always known Neville had more potential in him than Harry had ever seen, but now she thought of how proud Alice would be of her son just like she was for her own. The idea Alice may never get to say it to her child just like she hadn't in this future felt unbearable.

James shivered in unease, he hadn't found that possible!

Remus could feel his mouth opening in horror at the idea, and quickly scrambled to cover the expression, but Harry had seen. "Okay, so I won't lie," he confessed to his pale nephew. "The fact that I have no clue what that means is..." he faltered, but no word seemed right. "Doesn't make you any less to me," he finished meeting his eyes.

Harry relaxed back with a chagrined nod he'd thought otherwise for even a second, while Remus was still stunned what he thought clearly meant as much to him as James or Sirius.

"I'm getting the feeling this Occlumency is another symptom rather than a cure then," Harry huffed, he still couldn't feel any good came of this.

"He wasn't trying to be," James rolled his eyes, honestly sympathetic to Harry's problem and wishing this would come to ahead already, this building tension of what this thing could do was going to drive them all mad faster than Umbridge.

"Lets see her try it!" Sirius spluttered in protest for her jab. "It's no walk in the park having your brain cracked open, let alone by such a detested insect!"

The two exchanged an amused grin, while Remus grumbled no one needed Harry furthering Sirius' never ending idiotics.

The worst part was, the Marauders had been wondering much the same thing. They hadn't said it aloud, never let the idea come to fruition, but it made too much sense to them. They didn't trust Snape, and they never would, certainly not with something as important as this. Now, with Ron saying it for them, James forced out the words slowly and clearly to help put together his own train of thought past curses.

James turned pasty in shock of remembering who was in the Order and Dumbledore trusted, and his own fate because of it. James wasn't even sure if he could trust anyone outside this room again, let alone anyone Dumbledore said should be good enough.

"Not for me it's not," Sirius barked, entirely wanting Hermione to shut up instead. "I've never seen evidence against him either! Dumbledore's word isn't good enough for this, not with what Harry needs right now."

Lily kept herself calm, and quiet. She only agreed with Sirius on half, she did want that proof of his loyalty, he had done to many questionable, terrible things that she now needed something she never thought she would. She almost wished Ron hadn't said this, because now she couldn't get the idea out of her head, this certainly hadn't occurred to her. She'd thought her old friend was finally doing some irrefutable good helping her son with this, but the boys were right, they had nothing to show for whose good.

"I hope that's not true," James whispered for himself. That small ember for the life of one of his friends had died out never to be seen again, but he still trusted his real friends, his wife. He used to trust Dumbledore irrefutably, but that no longer felt as real either, and he knew he'd never fully get

that back after all this. If that's really where Hermione stood, he pitied her.

Sirius made such an enthusiastic noise Harry startled away from him, his eyes already narrowed at all of them and fighting back the urge to wrestle the book away from his father.

"Dad, I will-"

"No." James said at once without looking up.

"But I-"

"No." Sirius cut in, a smile already lighting his features as he looked at the object like it was gold.

"What if I-" Harry tried desperately.

"No." Remus crossed his arms and watched him as if he'd gone insane trying to ruin their fun.

"Can't I-"

"No," all three Marauders said at once.

He looked desperately to his mother, but she could only shrug helplessly for her poor boy, only wishing for a moment she could be more sympathetic, but that vanished in moments as she was

honestly just as eager to hear this.

"Well I don't need to-" he started getting to his feet and contemplating drowning himself in the bathtub until this was over, but was again intervened.

"Don't you even," Sirius cried in protest, wrenching his elbow back into his seat before he'd even managed to stand. "Your reactions are half the fun!"

"Only half," he muttered, pulling restlessly, but Sirius wasn't letting go, now waving James on eagerly so they could all hear about Harry's first date.

Sirius was already opening his mouth with a now familiar look that promised Harry would soon wish to be deaf and invisible. "I am begging you-"

"Harry, we haven't managed to stop him in the amount of years in our life, you hold no chance," Remus pleasantly informed him.

Sirius hadn't acknowledged either one of them as he blurted, "hope you got one of those mirrors offering advice, you're going to need it!"

James already burst out laughing while Harry finally got his elbow free, and spotted the cat snoozing under the table. He scooped Hickory up and placed him on his lap, scratching at his ears and making him purr loud enough Harry hoped to drown them all out instead.

"I'm guessing this has to do with what she walked off about earlier," Remus cocked his head to the side, more easily distracted than the others about what Hermione was doing.

"Brilliant deduction," Lily rolled her eyes at him while the other two shushed them, trying to get to far more important matters.

Harry squirmed with discomfort, this wasn't working and the cat glared at him and kneaded his claws into his shin. He roughly pushed the animal back off of him, thinking now everyone in here

was enjoying themselves more than him.

Lily frowned at her son being so rough with her cat, but as the boys were still lightly snickering over something so minor, she couldn't find it in her to scold him for that.

"Here I was wondering if he and Hermione were going to spend the day alone," Sirius muttered to Remus suggestively, who nodded in agreement as he'd thought the same thing.

James felt his mood take a downpour at once, somehow finding a new way to be depressed about this every time he realized why no more Quidditch practices had been mentioned!

"I wouldn't either," James said sharply. "He's clearly good when he sets his mind to it, he just needs to work on that far more, clearly Angelina isn't much help if he's still thinking the exact same way as the last time we heard about this."

teaspoon,

James was so agitated by the conversation, he poured every last drop of his enthusiasm into reading that, and though Remus and Sirius didn't laugh as hard because they were just as annoyed

at the reminder, Harry suddenly wasn't so put out at them taking the mickey out of him for this. It was certainly better than anything else they'd been hearing about lately, so he finally fixed a smile into place and prepared himself for all the ribbing they'd give.

"Well we know you already have something in common," James said, still a bit briskly for the Quidditch reminder, but clearly forcing himself to remain in his good mood.

"Yeah, yeah you're right," Harry eagerly agreed at once, still trying to force himself to join in on their fun.

"This is going to be a very short outing if that continues," Sirius' grin managed to keep stretching, it looked almost painful.

"Young love," Remus giggled at the awkward look Harry was clearly trying hard to keep repressed now.

Harry felt the same sharp pang in here, temporarily distracted in confusion that he'd much rather be playing a game than on a date with a girl he'd had a crush on for so long.

"Vividly," James beamed.

"And look at you pup, still a gentleman considering you never did it," Sirius grinned.

"Not everyone can say the same," James smirked.

Lily opened and closed her mouth, not sure if she wanted to know what that comment meant, but James didn't pause long enough for her to ask.

"No, it was Puddlemere United," James recalled.

"Why do you remember that?" Lily muttered.

Sirius offered Harry a triumphant grin for catching such a light hearted conversation that could last them for hours, and could easily branch into other things. Harry really had picked a good girl, he still wasn't sure what Lily and James ever found to talk about considering she had no fondness for the sport.

"That's really good," Lily encouraged. "After the first few awkward moments, talking really should be the most natural part."

Both parents looked honestly offended at that, Remus having to bite hard on his tongue to stop from laughing at their faces when Harry at once shifted guiltily at the reminder.

James groaned in sympathy for Harry before telling him, "then you either compliment her, can start another conversation easily enough, or you curse them as they walk away-"

He ducked just in time as Lily tried to smack him, shaking her head affectionately at her husband.

Harry chuckled, just a bit, at the friendly advice.

They all shivered in disgust of that reminder, still on some level picturing this happening to Sirius even if his heat had cooled down. This resurgence could still cause a mess of problems for the man who didn't deserve it.

"Not the word I'd use," Remus said bitterly, with a touch of confusion, what was Cho getting at?

"Oooh, I like her," Sirius began snickering harder than ever, his eyes gleaming at her logic, plus a darker something at the reminder he was still refusing to acknowledge. "We really could use her around, mind like that."

Harry gave an absent smile, happy to see they clearly still had a liking for Cho, but even as he gave his ring a little twist he tried to understand if this feeling of loss really was for this first date, or for someone he still couldn't place yet.

Remus wasn't as convinced, as at the time the Ministry had believed they knew where Sirius was going and why. They were half wrong, but it still would have had merit to post some guards for something so extreme happening, preferably something more reliable than dementors. This, he supposed, was just another level of showing how much the head of the Ministry cared, which felt non existent at this point.

"Because that's right comforting," James grumbled, still feeling disgust for the dementor attack of Harry's over the summer. While still odd, it seemed the explanation really was they'd been acting on their own in that Muggle place.

"What's this now?" Sirius ruffled his brow in confusion.

"Never heard of it," James almost snapped, insulted at once this girl would know something about their place.

"Relax you two," Remus wished he could protest more the put out look in place, but he was feeling as off as his friends. "Don't be naive in thinking they wouldn't have added a few more shops over the years."

They exchanged one more annoyed look before James kept going with more interest now, placing the shop in his mind easily enough as just an empty bit of space and curious to add to it.

Siris wretched at the very idea, even Lily found the idea undignified, though perhaps more because of the comparison than anything.

"There is no correct answer to that," Remus groaned.

"Suppose that's the best he could do though," James sighed.

"I honestly would have called that as original decorations," Harry said, his face squidged up in remembrance.

"At least he's not still strung up over Fleur," James chuckled.

"Ooh, I think Cho knew exactly what she was doing," Sirius sighed.

Harry wasn't paying him too much mind, even if he would have agreed, as he tried to subtly watch his parents and how they'd effortlessly been holding hands most of the time they were in

here. Even the idea of wishing Cho were here so he could as well was starting to make his palms sweat.

"That's a rather common first date practice," Remus agreed.

The wild look on Harry's face made it clear this was news to him.

"Err, Harry dear," Lily began cautiously, "has anyone ever, I mean to say, who-"

The growing look of horror was a pretty clear answer.

"No one ever talked to you about what happens after the date," James stated bluntly.

"Clearly even during the date," Remus muttered.

Harry kept watching them in exasperation like it would click together for them without his having to say so, but it was clear at least his mother wanted an explanation for this while the other three were just curious. "Okay fine," he groaned, "no, it's not as if I ever chatted about this! Heard some things from older students, some of the guys from the dorm say a few things that stick. Most everything I've really heard was from Ron," he couldn't help stammering even if he wasn't too embarrassed at least explaining the highlights. "Whatever his brothers told him, some things I heard Mr. Weasley say, I thought it pretty clear I was making it up along the way. You really want details?"*

"Nope," James said, more than satisfied, even if still a little resentful this was yet another thing he'd been deprived of, as he kept going loudly before Lily could argue the point.

Harry was cringing into his seat, never in his life wishing more that his dad would skip some parts already!

James didn't seem particularly phased by what other random people were doing, he was more curious if Harry was going to progress that far, if remembering kissing Cho would finally set off some spark in him that would declare who that ring connected to. It hadn't the first time though, so he wasn't holding his breath, and instead was just going with curiosity now what Harry would learn from all this.

"Oh I doubt that," Sirius shook his head, "most girls are far more involved with their own affairs."

"Really?" Remus said in surprise. "I thought they were more observational, in fact I'd be thinking the same as Harry."

"Oh no, they're watching your every move to see if you're watching their every move," Sirius said wisely.

James was watching curiously. Considering the many dates Sirius had been on, and just as many failed attempts, he was never sure how much Sirius wasn't just making all this up on the spot.

"That timing," Lily began giggling anew as Harry's face puckered with indignation.

"That's what he just said," James rolled his eyes, while Sirius hummed in concern, easily recognizing the dangerous tone without even being there. It was never a good sign when the question was repeated back.

"Oh dear," Lily said, quickly catching up to why Sirius was shaking his head at this display.

"What did I do?" Harry demanded of them.

"Cho's jealous of Hermione," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"A bit founded, honestly," Lily winced. "All those stories last year, well it's not as if she knew them not to be true," she said quickly at Harry's affronted look for Skeeter's articles being brought up again. "Plus you've been friends with her for ages, now bringing this up, I can see how she'd take that the wrong way."

"I wouldn't bring a date to a girl I fancied, I'm not that oblivious!" Harry protested. "I was trying to enjoy spending time with Cho, just, trying to find something to say."

Considering James had lived through several similar conversations of Sirius trying to partake advice, James saved Harry from having to hear any further and hoped his son wormed out of this fast enough on his own.

James gave a breathy laugh as he eyed that before nodding at his son. "I find it a fair comparison."

"Can't have been that hard for you," Harry rolled his eyes, "considering all I've heard about you trying to ask her out, this bit must have been a breeze for you."

"Hardly," Remus snorted as James turned chagrined. "Poor bloke was so stunned Lily finally gave him a chance, he somehow turned into more of a blithering idiot when she acknowledged his

attention."

James didn't bother to deny this, shrugging without remorse. "It did help she'd already seen me making a fool of myself to get this far, so I couldn't screw up so badly at the firsts."

Lily was just happy Harry was finally relaxing and actually chatting with the boys about this, clearly forcing himself past his embarrassment had finally led them to stop snickering away like total idiots and now she could really gage how he felt about all this. She was surprised at how, lax he was. She was genuinely starting to wonder if this thing with Cho was going to go anywhere, he'd been more happy about having his memories of learning all the Weasley's names restored rather than a first date with a girl who could possibly be his wife.

"There you have it, all of Padfoot's advice is officially null and void," Remus said in triumph.

"You certainly weren't singing the same tune in school," Sirius huffed, hardly looking abashed Cho was doing the opposite of what he'd been thinking.

"You're an idiot," was the only response he seemed to have for that.

"Now who's bringing up other people on our date," Harry threw his hands up in exasperation.

"She's trying to make you jealous," Lily assumed. "After you brought up Hermione, that's her idea of a comparison."

"I've never asked Hermione out," Harry spluttered.

"That's what she thought you meant," Lily explained.

"Well why couldn't she have just said that, I would have told her. I had no idea why she brought that up!"

Lily just shook her head at her poor son. If she could have, she would have been whispering all this in his ear, to help him understand, but she also recognized he would have to figure all this out in his own time regardless. He clearly already had, considering.

Okay, maybe all of their humor wasn't gone, all three cracking up at the description, Harry even offering a smile for his poor attempt.

"Pity?" Sirius clearly thought he was being helpful. "She knew you had a crush on her and she's trying to make someone else jealous."

Harry's eyes popped, he looked half affronted and half confused now, while Remus smacked him upside the head.

"What?" Sirius protested, "I was just being honest. Better than saying she only did cause he's so famous."

"You are not helping," James enunciated clearly for his idiotic friend while Harry huffed and rubbed at his temples, clearly trying to remember if he recalled any of those things. James glanced at Harry, but he was now so distracted he wasn't sure if Harry was even still listening, so he kept going to try and find the point of this while Harry was still distracted.

"Oh this is even better," Lily groaned, "now she's reminiscing about their elephant."

"Really starting to feel better about my dating life," Remus muttered.

Harry missed what he'd said as his mother's words caused another level of distraction, now looking dispirited about the whole thing for a whole new reason other than his family's mockery.

James had hardly gotten that out before shuddering at the idea of what Cedric's last thought must have been. What his own would have been...He shook himself to clear that away and turned

solemn eyes on his son, never having wanted to say more to him but having no place to start.

Harry clearly didn't want to talk about this though, his jaw tightly set and all but glaring at the book for never ceasing to remind him of this when all he really wanted to do was forget it all again. That wasn't going to happen though, the moment he'd realized the thought had crossed his mind he'd even felt ashamed for it, Cedric's death was to be remembered for the same reason his trip to the Mirror of Erised was. Bitter, unattainable pain that pushed him to be better at his own life.

James took a careful breath before continuing quietly, looking forward to this as much as he was hearing more about those escaped prisoners. He had no desire to hear about Harry explaining Cedric's last moments to Cho...

"Oh it is far too late for changing the subject," Sirius told him with sympathy while Harry's horror had switched to dread. A huge jumble of emotions leaving him more unclear than ever what he was supposed to be feeling about this moment and Cho in general.

"I don't suppose this'll just pass into a relapse of the two of you kissing, and finally a skip scene," Remus pleaded just a bit desperately.

"Fingers crossed," James winced for his poor son.

"Really, why?" Sirius yelped, starting to look jittery as he glanced from Harry to the book, no advice in the world would help him out of this mess.

"Couldn't tell you, thought you were supposed to be telling me that," Harry said miserably, he wanted this to be over already, even more than when it had started somehow.

Lily started to look affronted for her son. She knew what Cho meant of course, but there was an entirely huge difference in dating Cedric and watching him die. Of course they both needed to talk about it, but not while they were trying to move past it during this moment of the two romantically trying to start up!

"Now's the time you try to take this outside," James winced. "She really is something, dragging this out in public."

"I'm sure by this point what Sirius said is actually some form of true, she's not paying attention to a thing but herself by this point," Remus groaned.

Harry's mouth gaped open as he vividly remembered this nightmare returning. Now thanks to his mum, he supposed in some skewed way he knew why that would bother her, but it wasn't like that at all! He wouldn't have started screeching if she'd gone and said she'd talked to one of her friends about this, what was the difference? "Why was she bringing this up at all?" Harry hadn't

realized he'd demanded that out loud until they all winced for his tone and the baby in Remus' lap fussed uneasily at the sharp voice.

"I'm sorry Harry," Lily sighed, wishing she had a better answer. "My best guess is she was trying to make you sympathize with her to keep your attention, but it's not as if we have insights into her mind, we really are guessing."

Harry nodded morosely, muttering an apology for half yelling at something that was entirely not their fault.

James waited patiently for his son to settle back down in Remus' lap before pressing on with a look clearly saying he'd like to change the subject last page.

"This is just getting better and better," Sirius sighed.

"There's a sentence I've never been privy to," James paused to gaze at that line even if he did sympathize with his son for it.

"That is the most ludicrous thing!" Remus spluttered. "Now I'm wondering if she took something before this outing!"

"She's upset," Lily scolded him, even if she was still more wishing Harry would do more to comfort the girl, it wasn't really his fault both were mutually making this worse.

"She's just shouting nonsense at him now," Remus insisted, "even Sirius was never so loony to pull something like that."

Sirius couldn't decide if he was supposed to be insulted for a moment, but James was going loudly over them, knowing no answer to this would help Harry.

"Credit for trying?" Sirius offered, for now ignoring Remus. "I always try to make others laugh in these kinds of situations."

"Merlin help you if you start acting like Sirius in any situation," James rolled his eyes.

"So happy to be of their entertainment for the day," Harry groaned.

"If it's any consolation, you've now set for them how their dates shouldn't go," Sirius clearly thought he was being helpful again, while Harry eyed him with concern since he wasn't sure if

Sirius meant this. If he did, maybe his godfather had head trauma.

"That about covered this whole instance since you stepped in there," James agreed.

"More than I would have done," Sirius rolled his eyes. "That little tabloid needs a chance to cool down."

"Did you just call her a tabloid?" Lily asked in confusion, already feeling insulted on Cho's behalf for whatever he could mean by that.

"Yeah, dramatic and showing off," Sirius grinned like he was being clever.

Remus was too busy watching him in disbelief, and missed Lily's expression saying she wished he'd take another swing.

"Oh how things can change," James agreed, though he said this more with an air of cheer as he glanced adoringly at his wife.

Lily went from grinning at her husband to scoffing at her son, who looked properly sheepish, though in his silent defence there hadn't been a chance his mother would be around to hear that

when he'd said it.

"Oh Merlin, he really is acting like Sirius now," Remus groaned, that was too reminiscent of how Sirius came back from failed dates.

"I'm still on Harry's side for this," James frowned at that. "She did seem to bring this on herself."

"Stop, the lot of you," Lily frowned at all of them. "Cho was trying just like Harry was, things got away from them. I still hope they'll patch it up."

Harry grimaced at the idea of this. His liking for Cho, which had always been the smallest part of his memories returning, felt more insignificant than ever, and he really didn't have much feeling for his mother's words other than more dread.

While the others had brightened just a bit, Hagrid was always fun to talk to and his departure and even return had only been depressing so far. They were hoping for just a small moment of fun, but this wasn't an encouraging start.

Only Sirius had an idea of why James was looking forward to this least of all. If Hagrid started imparting girl wisdom in his steed, he wasn't sure how long he could fake not being annoyed at it.

"True, his relationship with Maxime seems to be going well," Sirius said brightly. Harry rubbed his face into his hands in exasperation while Remus told him he had a one track mind, Sirius ignoring both of them.

"Er," Lily muttered in confusion, wondering where Hagrid was going with that, and still somehow wishing for that pleasant chat.

James slight scowl turned into a grimace instead. He would have taken being annoyed at being replaced rather than the abrupt reminder of why he would be replaced!

"Yeah," Harry whispered, ducking his head. It was too hard to look at them all for a moment, to realize yet again his living in this moment never should have happened, but by some miracle it had. Hagrid had never been granted such a gift to see his parents again.

"Oh the poor dear," Lily crooned, feeling her own eyes start to sting. Hagrid did seem a bit off since he'd come back, and she suddenly wondered if this was why! Being surrounded by giants,

hearing the fate of his mother, his only relation was dead! She knew Harry often felt like an outsider in the magical world, she often did as well being a muggle-born, Hagrid must have it even worse not truly being apart of any world!

The boys could only awkwardly agree. They felt bad for Hagrid, but anything to say about it felt heartless or lost on them. Only Remus could have possibly sympathized, and he hadn't spoken to anyone about this except his friends, so he wouldn't have dared tried now when Hagrid was clearly in such an off time.

"I can't even blame you for that one," Sirius said with a hard catch to his voice.

Harry almost wished for his advice back, that was easier to handle than a Sirius who was yet again forced to relive what would happen to his best friend, to his own future, all because of Harry.

"Those jabs to the heart you keep dishing out," Remus muttered sourly, glad Hagrid wasn't around to hear that, he didn't mean it.

"Hagrid's as good as ever managing his secrets," James tried to force more sarcasm to his voice than the edge that was still present.

Harry had to concentrate for a moment on remembering to swallow past everything that had happened. He wished he could be of some help to Hagrid, but he also had a really bad feeling for whatever was this notion in him he was sure to understand this eventually.

James spluttered like he'd been clocked in the head by a Bludger! Even Lockhart hadn't thrown him off as badly as this woman making a reappearance!

The other three made much the same noise, this day really couldn't get any stranger could it?

"I have never been happier for Hermione's existence!" Sirius declared. "I need an explanation for this Prongs, now!"

It still took him a few moments to find his tongue and continue. He hadn't expected to ever hear from this woman again, or if she had crossed his mind he'd have liked to think her in a cart load of trouble, not having a drink back at Hogwarts!

"Drama explanations for later, answer for why there's a cockroach at the table now," Sirius insisted, fighting back the urge to snatch the book away from him already.

"I'm going, I'm going," James muttered, only going slower in responding, so Remus elbowed Sirius hard before he could retort.

"What if it is a bloke named Cho?" Lily rolled her eyes.

"That would be an even bigger news line, if possible," Harry said deadpan, James shushing themboth without looking up.

"Now there's an idea," Remus couldn't stop himself snickering at the idea, though quickly stopped at Sirius' glare.

"Finally," Sirius yelped, James taking a moment to look at him in exasperation for still managing to delay this further.

Lily didn't care how mean spirited her giggle was, the woman deserved it with all she'd done.

"What deal?" All four of them said in exasperation.

James looked up slowly from the book, saying clearly, "well if you'd stop interrupting me, maybe we'd know by now!"

Remus ignored him and instead started speculating with that little bit, "Hermione's not really going to let Rita out from under her thumb, I can't imagine what would be worth it!"

"There's not going to be a time that's possible," Lily scoffed. "Hermione will always have the first word of Rita's secret."

"I can't believe Skeeter hasn't fixed this herself by now," Sirius said with puzzlement. "It's been plenty of time, surely she's at least started the process of registering herself as an animagus."

"I thought she was still in a jar in her dorm and never got the chance," James pouted even if he knew it not to be true, Hermione had said she was going to release her, but he could enjoy the idea in the meantime. Then he cursed at himself for playing along when he'd wanted to keep going.

"Maybe Prongs has a point," Remus agreed, "Hermione could have dumped Skeeter in the middle of nowhere, made it a real hassle for her to be doing anything to do with the Ministry in the

meantime."

"Eh," Sirius said, unsatisfied with this answer, but it was the only one they were going to get as James kept going.

"She says that like it's supposed to be so intimidating," Harry rolled his eyes. Even at her worst, Harry had only ever been outraged at her for further inconveniencing his life and making Hagrid's life more miserable, but never to the level Skeeter clearly found herself of menacing.

All five of them got a laugh out of that, finally, this whole chapter had felt like a walking disaster, so this was a brilliant relief to them all.

"Usually Hermione answering for people drives me nuts," Lily grinned, "but somehow she's made this time funny."

"Circumstances," Harry shrugged, he'd had no problem Hermione deflecting this for him.

James rolled his eyes in disgust even if Skeeter finally was doing something they approved of. She certainly wasn't going to be able to spin it in the way it should be, leaving them still baffled as to why she was there.

"Yep, there it is," Lily said in clipped tones. Even Skeeter managed to make the actual truth into a spectacle. It was a gift, if a waste of one.

"Don't indulge her Hermione!" Remus scolded.

"The name, which I can't even deny is a little funny, or the idea," James arched a brow at the book.

"Both," Sirius had his head cocked to the side as he tried to wrap his head around where Hermione was going with this.

"Hey!" James yelped in outrage. "I thought Luna liked Ron!"

"Maybe she really does wish he were her King," Sirius inserted, though still confused.

Harry had a torn look in place, a bit miffed at Luna as well even having the knowledge she'd never mean it the way Malfoy did. What was it about this song he was so sure shouldn't really be a bad thing? He was sure if Luna was humming it, maybe she'd even added her own lines so they weren't insulting his friend-wait-

The idea was turned off as James kept going, to Harry's relief, as he was starting to feel that all too familiar pounding back in his temple.

"But, where's the proof she will?" Lily demanded, clearly thinking she'd found a hole in Hermione's plan even if there was a warm feeling for the idea. "I give her merit, trying to post

Harry's story out there, but-"

"Luna's dad!" Sirius yelped with a huge smile, ignoring Lily's scowl he'd cut her off, she should be thanking him. "Remember, he believes Harry, he'd never post anything like Skeeter was trying for, but he'd put up the truth! And this woman, being the horrid but reputable source she is, puts the credibility as opposed to his other stories," he trailed off with a brilliant smile.

Lily found the plan so ingenious she even stopped scowling at Sirius.

"That's brilliant," Remus breathed, watching the grin unfurl on Harry's face. "That's, wow! Wait, what even made her think of this so much later?"

"Who cares," James said in a sing song voice, grinning boyishly. Finally something was going right for Harry!

Remus was still blasted as he remembered it was Hermione seeing those ten Death Eaters that somehow prompted this, though he wasn't clear how she'd connected all those dots to this, but he

wasn't going to knock the idea either so let it go. He was still just a teensy bit worried, vividly remembering the cock and bull about Sirius for one that had so gotten their hopes up for the

briefest moment. He wasn't entirely sure how this was going to help Harry, how far could Skeeter's word really stretch?

"My new favorite reaction," Remus nodded, his eyes still wide from shock.

Sirius' grin took a hard edge, nearly predator like from this woman clearly not having learned her lesson, still trying to talk like this about his godson. They weren't even there and they'd realized where Hermione was going with this before that woman had, shows how smart she really was compared to that 'silly little girl.'

"Finally someone says it out loud," Lily scoffed.

"Well that's a new one," James scrunched up his nose at this woman trying to act like a professional instead of what she really was.

"And pandering to that idea makes it all better," Remus said acidly.

"It used to not," James said in disgust, still having the urge to discontinue his own even when they hadn't started doing this yet. Just knowing they one day would because of whatever means Fudge was using was revolting enough to him.

"Oh so we're back to calling her that now," Lily said through gritted teeth.

"I note the change happened after Hermione made her point," James sniffed.

"I want to subscribe to that now," Sirius said flatly. Harry couldn't help a grin at him doing such a thing out of spite, even if he admired the idea of why.

All five of them almost cracked a smile for such a reaction, though perhaps not a kind one, to be in on such a joke. They didn't like agreeing with Skeeter, it left a nasty taste to acknowledge for even a second she had a point, but it was still miles better than anything she'd ever conceived.

"That's assuming you have a heart long enough to keep anything alive," Lily sneered.

"They did take my name at The Quibbler," Sirius batted his eyes innocently, Harry starting to laugh as hard as Rita just had much to the others exasperation at wondering why Harry still did.

The others couldn't help joining in on Harry's suddenly giggly mood. Too long they'd been hearing nothing but disaster and pain on him, yet finally Hermione had wrangled together something of far more use than they'd yet seen anyone else trying to do!

"Please continue giving them ideas," Lily giggled, noting how all the Marauders got a particular look on their face for this description.

That jab was harder to laugh at for the reminder of James and Sirius' own current problem, making them all the more glad they'd never incurred Hermione's wrath at any time.

"I'm sure many people would stand in line to see," Lily rolled her eyes. "Isn't it nice to underestimate people."

"I would like to take a moment to recognize Hermione just, volunteering you for this," James frowned at this. He'd just had a big problem with Cho because she'd just assumed Harry would

want to talk to someone about this, now here was Hermione foisting the same thing on him.

Lily couldn't help but agree rather sourly, "you've hardly spoken a word of this to them at all after the first night, she really is putting you on the spot even with the best of intentions."

Harry considered for a moment, really thinking why he wasn't angry. "I suppose, Hermione wasn't, you know, pushing me to do this, you know. If I'd said I wasn't ready, well she wouldn't

have been happy and would have badgered me to do this because it's the right thing," he acknowledged after seeing their skeptical faces, "and I trust her, so even though it was hard to talk about it again to someone I didn't even like, well finally being able to push back like this felt, right." He finished triumphantly, before his brow creased and he really thought out, "Cho just sprung it on me, and so did Hermione, but at least my friend knows where I'm coming from, and she won't start crying over it," he finished with a bit of a shudder, causing Sirius to suppress a snort that was what Harry was so on one particular side with.

James hummed in agreement before finishing, simply thinking Hermione will be Hermione.

"Well that was done," James announced, happily tossing the book along to Sirius.

HPHPHPHP

*I'm really not going into further details about this guy's, not even in the next book. The idea of who gave Harry 'the talk' had been on my mind since the third book when Cho showed up, but to

be perfectly honest I was never given 'the talk' either, I didn't exactly grow up in a conventional household and was never sat down about this. I figured it out as I went along and grew up, though I had access to the internet which wasn't something Harry was privy to, I figured this is as good an explanation as anyone's going to get so let's leave this one be.


	26. SEEN AND UNFORSEEN

Sirius easily caught the book and began thumbing through pages, muttering this would have been far easier if his twat of a friend would just hand it to him rather than losing his place every time. James ignored this and went to retrieve his son from Remus, quickly stepping out to change his diaper in the slight delay and then nestling back next to his wife with their child between them as Sirius started with residual triumph for Harry's finally able to speak out like he did.

"It's good to know I'm not everybody's top priority," Harry said indulgently. He may have a good feeling about that paper, but he still wasn't sure how much good it would do, so best to put it out of his mind for now.

Lily huffed in agitation that vile woman was pressing her son for those details, hating the irony that Skeeter had finally gotten her exclusive article she'd always wanted, but at least happy enough Harry was on board with this one.

"Guess it's better than calling you a nutter again," James frowned at this continuation, clearly the Death Eater breakout hadn't been good enough to push someone who should know Harry on

some level back into reason.

"You think Dean's secretly helping Seamus with all the spells he's learning from the DA?" James asked.

"Well I'm sure Dean hasn't exactly told where he's learned them from," Sirius reminded of Hermione's little spell with a proud smirk, "but I wouldn't be surprised either."

Remus let out a low whistle of surprise for such a long running practice, his two friends looking far more disappointed they hadn't gotten to hear about that instead of two/ thirds of that

Hogsmeade visit.

"At least Hermione can talk you through it," Lily told him, glad that her son had seemed to follow their commentary well enough, but it would still be even better if someone had explained this to him in his time.

"I'd rather just never speak of it again," Harry grumbled.

"Well I'm glad you're chatting with her about this," James smirked, "far more than I ever got, you've now experienced Sirius' advice first hand."

"Hey!" Sirius yelped, "it's not my fault the woman's the most stubborn creature at school." Sirius clearly repeated an old statement.

Lily raised a brow at him, before looking at a suddenly uncomfortable James, and asked, "exactly how many of your blasted attempts were of his doing?"

James had the grace to fail to answer that, Remus was laughing too hard to answer, and Sirius kept going loudly so he wouldn't have to.

"Hey!" Harry spluttered, now much preferring his mum's words.

Lily was still watching James critically, and he was happily ignoring her look by playing with his son's fingers.

All three boys got a chuckle out of that, though none of this was improving Harry's mood at the lot of them ganging up on him in past and present.

Lily was smothering her own laughter now, finally distracted from eyeing James. Hermione, with her two male best friends, should know better than anyone what if felt like to explain these things

to them.

He should have made it seem like a drag Harry had to do this, he'd much rather spend all his time with Cho, but Hermione really had made him swear so he now had an obligation and to really make her feel as if she was more important by pleading with her to come along. It would have helped if he'd also mentioned how ugly Harry found Hermione.

"That is so unnecessary," Remus stated as he eyed Lily, "I'm sure she'd find it just as insulting his pandering to her need."

Lily just shrugged. She wasn't going to try speaking for Cho. She was privy to knowing what Harry had meant and so understood her son's position better than Cho likely had. Plus she'd never

had much insecurity in the man in her life, he'd never been secretive about his intentions. Yet at the same time, it was clear she was the only one in here who understood why Hermione had said it that way, it would have helped sooth Cho more than what Harry actually did.

"At least I could have told you that wouldn't have been helpful in the face of Cho," Sirius offered.

"Thank you Padfoot, I think I could have worked that one out," Harry rolled his eyes.

Hermione just laughed, saying he was as bad as Ron, or perhaps not she amended with a sigh,

All five of them couldn't help a soft snort of amusement at Hermione suffering her own plight of love.

"I'm guessing practice didn't go well," Remus said conversationally.

"I still can't imagine coming away from a practice in such a bad mood," James stated, his tone enough to state the idea was lost on him. "Quidditch is how you relieve stress."

"Dessert for dinner, that's got to be some consolation," Sirius chuckled.

"I love my wife," James needlessly declared as he grinned at her.

"I've never asked anything like this of you," Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"I know," he smirked as she made his point.

Harry just muttered something about he wasn't looking forward to a repeat, or if he had to, maybe he could sneak Hermione along under the cloak so it wouldn't go as bad again, or maybe Ginny if

she'd help him out in trade of getting her out of a Quidditch practice she so clearly hadn't wanted to be in...

"That would be a best seller," Sirius agreed.

"I love Ron just automatically took to the important part of that conversation," Remus snickered.

"That poor girl," James said with honest sympathy. He'd been lucky to have such a fantastic team his final year, yet every time Angelina turned something happened to hers this year.

Lily struggled to hold back a new wave of pig headed comments about the new mischief makers of this school, her restraint not helped at all by the sympathetic look growing on James.

"Ginny keeps getting better with every mentioning," Remus chuckled.

"Absolutely better than the little fan girl," Harry agreed full heartedly, even if he did look back on that with far more humor than he would have thought.

"He's so casual about having his stuff being nicked," Sirius grinned as well even if he knew he'd have gone off on Regulus for doing the same.

All four boys groaned and shifted restlessly, James wishing more and more someone would offer Ron some actual helpful advice rather than just complaining about the problem.

"That was true several months ago now," Sirius scoffed, "I've no clue why they stuck around after what Umbridge pulled, I haven't heard a lick of revenge from them about it."

"Sirius," Lily said in exasperation. "They've been at it this long, even if they don't care about the grades they may as well finish school by this point they're so close."

"I thought the reason they hadn't bailed was because they didn't want their mum to have more worries," Remus reminded. "That's hardly gone away, if not worse with their fathers recent injury."

Sirius turned back to the book in hopes the twins would give some better answer.

Harry burst out laughing that the closest thing to have crossed their minds in hear was his mother's words, and even she hadn't seemed that concerned about it.

James gave a loud applause at his son yet again helping out the twins, this time even unintentionally! Sirius though cracked up even harder as he realized it was Hermione who'd been the pin in this one, and wondered if anyone ever realized the connection.

"I want to know what possessed them to put that in what they eat," Lily crinkled her nose.

"A bit brilliant though," Remus grinned, "considering the essence is to help ease sore skin, and I can't think of a place they were more sore. If they'd put it on those boils, and realized it made them go away, then the next step would be adding it to their batch."

Lily narrowed her eyes with worry in here that this idea clearly didn't bother a single one of them, there was a reason she cooked in this house.

"Kill him more like!" James scolded.

Sirius whooped with laughter and James even joined in that time with glee.

The boys looked properly scandalized at this, but Lily defended Hermione on this one. "I may not like the sport much either, but I think a few things could be altered to make it more bearable for those who aren't obsessed with it."

"Like?" James challenged, clearly already convinced she could offer nothing for this.

"What if, instead of pinning the house teams against each other, any person from any house could be on four separate teams? Captains would still be chosen one from each house, and you'd have to create some structure for how each team got players so that nothing too dirty could be abused during selections, but it would do even more good to support a school unity rather than having another way for them to compete against each other. We already have the House Cup for that."

Her speculation ended there, for now, but she looked around and grinned further when she saw none of the boys were immediately dispelling the idea.

Sirius scrutinized her for an extra minute, but failing to come up with an argument against that, continued for now.

"Well she did say that to the three players who'd been booted off the team for something entirely not their fault," Sirius defended.

James opened and closed his mouth in outrage, and Harry was quite thankful his friend wasn't here now, or she may have gotten her ear chewed off.

Remus inhaled through his teeth as he watched his friends blanch at that spurn even through the book.

Harry would rather have jumped off the Astronomy Tower than admit it to her, but by the time he had watched the game the following Saturday he would have given any number of Galleons not to care about Quidditch either.

"I blame this on your father," Lily told him.

"It's half Ron's fault," Remus said fairly, "he got Harry into the details of it."

"No," James shook his head to try and distract himself from his own disappointment, "I take full responsibility for this."

"I'm going with that last one," Sirius said critically.

"I'm crying on the inside just hearing about it," James moaned at the display.

All four boys simultaneously ground at the idea so many goals had been made, but tried to cheer slightly Ginny had pulled that off! Harry in particular found it a novelty at all to be watching a

game from his school and with his disappointment still had far more fun watching Ginny play his usual position than he would have thought.

"I can easily imagine," James hung his head in agreement, he couldn't claim his team had won every game either.

"She shouldn't downplay her own win," Harry rolled his eyes.

"Like you would have done," Sirius snorted, which Harry failed to answer.

"How did you need her to remind you of that," James shivered, "it's the only thing getting me through these."

"Really James? The only thing eh?" Lily demanded of him.

He denied answer, even if he wouldn't take his comment back.

Harry had a very bemused smile in place the others all put down to him trying not to remember something about whether this happened or not.

"Credit to her then," James agreed with enthusiasm, though Remus shook his head in a bit of pity as well, at some point that must feel as much like a punishment as encouragement.

"I can't wrap my head around the fact that somehow banning the teachers from virtually talking to the students was okay, but not this song!" Lily seethed.

"It's really no fun if they're so despondent they won't react," Sirius agreed, Lily scrunching up her face at him as she thought he was entirely missing the point of not picking on someone when they were down.

"I'm sure he appreciates your restraint," Remus said deadpan, while Harry felt a nasty prickling feeling wondering why he couldn't remember Fred doing that again.

"There's a proper mate," Remus said in understanding, before unbidden the idea of which one of his friend were more like that, and it wasn't the two in the room. He blasted that idea away quickly before it could poison more of his life.

"He really is getting as conceded as you, at least about this sport," Lily snipped at her husband, before properly scolding Harry, "you don't know what you would have done in that moment as

well, you've hesitated over the Snitch before so the other Seeker wouldn't come in as well. You might not have even seen it from where you were, you were in a different angle in the stands."

Harry did look a bit abashed at his moment, he'd never want to undermine what Ginny had done.

"And we snuck down and pitched her head first to the ground below. After setting a teacher on fire, this was nothing!" Sirius kept going with absolute conviction as if reading.

"Technically Hermione did that," Harry pouted, "and you're never going to let that one go, are you?"

"No," all four said at once.

Harry shook his head at all of them before continuing to address Sirius, "and you know perfectly well there was no such thing said in there, even Dumbledore couldn't stop me from getting Cruicio'd by her if we'd tried-" he abruptly stopped, as if his tongue had rolled into his head and he'd had no other choice from the sting of his mind warning him further.

Sirius ignored where Harry had stopped and kept going with a mutter of wishes.

"Oh yes, because that's so much better than what I said," Sirius snarled in outrage, wanting nothing more than to sick a wild dog on her already and make this problem go away.

"Have you once managed to do that?" Lily asked, an edge of fear trying to push out her exasperation.

Harry denied answering, which was answer enough.

"I know that's what puts me to sleep every night," Sirius agreed with a smirk.

"There's something really interesting in there," Remus said with a raised brow.

"Yeah, how come you didn't mention her wearing a kilt along with those?" James smirked.

"I thought only blokes wore kilts?" Sirius corrected.

"It was the first Scottish thing that came to mind," he shrugged, "that and potatoes."

"It was a dream!" Harry protested this conversation before it could go further.

They frowned at him for ruining their fun, but since McGonagall wasn't here as their foyal, nor would they possibly have even dragged it out this far if she had been, he let it go.

Harry made a guttural noise of frustration at being reminded of this again! Days weren't even passing in here, he wasn't even having the frequent dream as his memory returned except the two

times so far, but as often as it was mentioned he may as well be.

Sirius couldn't deny he'd had a rising sense of interest at this new alteration to the dream, but it also made him quiver with unease just as much.

He glanced up at Harry shivering at his side, there was some unreadable look on his face Sirius was more convinced than ever he didn't really want to know.

Remus either didn't notice, or as usual was muttering for himself and didn't seem to realize others could hear. "Well this can't be good, sounded like Voldemort's getting closer to whatever this

thing is."

Sirius gave a heavy sigh in agreement before continuing loudly.

Sirius tried his best to hide his anger at this being true. He couldn't believe he was scared away from communicating with Harry! He'd even offered his pup another solution and the little birk had denied that out of some skewed idea he was protecting him! He wasn't even sure himself what it had been, but for Harry to clearly have just forgotten about it and not even bothered to check was maddening! He continued reading with far more hostility than a bit of mail should have offered.

"This isn't like what happened to Hermione last year is it?" Lily asked in concern, remembering the amounts of hate mail the poor dear got.

"Luna said the article wasn't even out yet for him to be getting any," Remus disagreed, though now Sirius felt even more justified in his haste of reading.

"Luna jumped ahead of schedule," James said with glee.

"Still not sure if I'm a fan of the rest of this showing up," Sirius said grumpily, eyeing the rest of the text with worry. If anyone had sent his godson a cursed letter, that meant Umbridge had let that through her screening of Harry's mail, and that wasn't going to go over well.

"That's a better reaction than you usually have to getting attention," Lily chuckled.

Remus scrunched up his face in agitation for that particular suggestion, Harry was tortured enough thank you.

"Everybody wants to put their opinion out there, even if it isn't an actual opinion," Sirius said in an attempt at Remus' wise voice.

Remus rolled his eyes for his friends attempt.

"Err," James said with concerned curiosity.

"I never got to see the picture," Harry answered with that bemused expression lingering in here, so he had no clue if Ron's reaction was to be a good thing or bad for that.

"He sent out a request for toad repellent, he still didn't get enough," Remus said with a straight face.

Lily bite down so hard on her tongue from shouting out in frustration for the grounds of this her eyes began welling up in pain. She could never stand the idea of that woman anywhere near

Harry, never mind the casual way she dished out torture and no on in that school had done a thing to stop it!

"I've yet seen your instincts fail you," Remus said blandly, "so I wouldn't be surprised if you were right." It made none of them feel better this treatment was being continued as casually as

Umbridge's.

Sirius let out a triumphant bark of laughter, everyone else getting a giggle out of that as well.

The three Marauders blanched in further outrage from that pond scum. The detentions were still worse, but if there was one thing she could do to strike them hardest, it was ban them from their

home turf. She grew luckier by the page they weren't there in person to teach her a thing or two about how she was treating their boy.

"Yes, how dare he have a voice in saying what happened to him that doesn't conform to you," James said dangerously, that smile still in place turning eerie as he thought of yet more curses he

planned on using on her someday soon.

Harry let out a low whistle even if his face was bland while he stated, "whoever would have imagined Umbridge would do me a favor in getting me out of an Occlumency lesson."

"This isn't funny Harry," James said flatly, his voice flat and his eyes flashing.

Harry raised his hands in surrender at once, wincing and regretting trying to make it funny even if in his own head he was still weighing the two on levels of awful and couldn't quite decide which was worse.

Lily felt her mouth flop open in true resignation of the stupidity of these. How did they manage to keep getting more ridiculous with every one?!

The boys were so sick of these being made up on the spot and being passed as actual laws they'd even run out of insults for them, something they wouldn't have believed possible before.

"What do you mean, for some reason?" Remus asked Harry, he found the woman's own idiocy almost brilliant.

"Everyone already thinks I'm a nutter, and just cause I said something in a paper wouldn't really change that," Harry said, his spirits clearly hadn't kept hold of that warmth pushing back at the Ministry this had originally given him. "Now there's no way anyone's going to risk getting expelled just to hear my account of being a madman even more."

"Oh Harry," Sirius chuckled, while James shook his head affectionately. "You have no idea what Umbridge just did."

Harry continued to just look around at them, but Sirius kept going before Lily could explain like she was clearly fixing to.

Harry still didn't seem to get it, and was opening his mouth to interrupt again to say so, so Lily did state, "remember back to your first week, how you suspected everyone was talking about your first detention in hopes you'd start shouting at them as well?"

He didn't have to think long before the realization hit, and he nodded as she finished, "they do want to hear you, it's far easier to form an opinion of a first hand account rather than what Dumbledore said. I'm not promising it will change everyone's minds, but those letters you were sent was the perfect example of how this will put things inside school as well."

Harry suddenly turned eagerly back to Sirius now, hope finally filtering through every bit of him! Umbridge had managed to take away yet one more thing about school he loved, now had he managed to circle back around to being banned from Hogsmeade again. In return, she may have gifted him with his best weapon yet in spreading his story for him.

"There's evidence as if we needed it," Sirius snickered.

It was amazing to finally see him smiling in here, practically glowing. The idea of what he'd been put through this year had weighed on him for so long they'd hardly been able to recognize it until it was being lifted away before their eyes. Finally, something had gone right for Harry, and no one, not even Umbridge was taking that away.

All four of them already had that flippant smile set in place, one Harry had grown to associate with their idea they'd never be caught by the teachers of that school. The lot of them weren't long from their own teen years and hiding things from anyone and everyone, and they couldn't wait to see how others were doing the same.

"Passable," Sirius said reasonably.

"Sometimes subtler can be safest," Remus shrugged.

"I never thought the idiocy of that one could be passed, could I please stop being proven wrong," James rolled his eyes.

"My favorite thing that teacher's ever done," Sirius chuckled.

Lily giggled affectionately for her old favorite teacher.

All five of them got a crack out of that one. They seemed to forget a lot how much fun Trelawney could be and enjoyed the reminders.

"Was, that an apology, or...?" James trailed off with a furrowed brow.

"She was holding his hand, I'll take that as a sign of forgiveness for meeting up with other girls," Sirius rolled his eyes at the girls further dramatics.

Harry had a soft smile in place, he was happy he'd found some more even ground with her, and they all wondered if they'd been dead wrong at the end of Harry's first date. Maybe he and Cho

did make up and further on from there.

Lily couldn't help a further smattering of giggles, all boys considered crying a bad thing, even tears of joy.

Harry touched the spot on his cheek, his smile growing more as his face took on another tinge of red, and for once he could easily ignore the snickers of those around him. He could still feel something for Cho, and though it didn't feel nearly as powerful as he thought it would if he'd married her, perhaps his full memories just hadn't been returned yet and he'd have even more happy memories of sharing time with her.

"Finally!" Remus said in relief. It hadn't exactly been a major drama, but it was still boggling the idea one of Harry's roommates had taken so long to believe Harry. Even not being close friends, Seamus really would have been expected to be one of those who'd know better.

"It's a start," Sirius raised a brow at that.

"I accepted it," Harry said agreeably, that smile was finally so carefree in here, they were all still smiling as well.

Lily smiled grimly to herself, beyond pleased as she realized they now had names for all of Voldemort's inner circle. There were still more out there, there would always be more Death

Eaters, but if she could find one good thing in the throes of these wretched things happening to her son, it was the justice those vermin would get.

James pumped his fist in triumph while Sirius cackled, all five of them beyond words at this level of comeuppance.

"Imagine that," Remus said dryly with a friendly chuckle.

"Miracles," Sirius almost managed with a straight face.

All four boys got yet more laughter out of this, though Lily thought that was pushing it just a touch too far. Umbridge hadn't yet, but she half feared at this point the woman would show up

and give the whole house detention.

"I'm actually quite confident it would still be amusing," James corrected, thinking of some clever things he could do if he figured out the timing of those words.

Lily didn't argue the point even as she watched his calculating look with exasperation.

They hated how short lived Harry's happiness was, but before their eyes they saw he was already starting to twitch with unease again, rubbing at his scar, his eyes taking on that glazed look of pain all over again.

Lily shivered down to her bone even before Sirius could catch his breath to keep going. Harry hadn't stopped rubbing his scar in here since it was mentioned, and he was looking just as sick as described. She wanted to make Sirius stop, to go get him a cold press for his forehead if that helped him even for a second, but she knew the truth, she was just delaying. They could all feel it

was happening again, Harry's fingers trembling and him pulling into himself as some new terrible memory was resurfacing, and the faster they pushed through it the better.

Sirius hung his head, shook it for a moment in agitation for having to be right about this, and then took a very long, deep breath before reading the latest travesty of Harry's life in having to see what Voldemort was up to. It was lost on no one this was yet another level of advanced, Harry now seeing directly into Voldemort's mind, the only thing that could be said was at least Harry hadn't been awake as well, he'd fallen asleep, so there was some consistency in this. Even that smallest moment of understanding and knowing one thing about this was of the vaguest comfort.

Sirius looked wildly around, and waited very impatiently for Harry to meet his eyes. He didn't quite manage it, looking more above his left ear, but Sirius said with such determination, that

Harry felt he had no choice but to look him full on, "that is not you!"

Harry had no response for that, but clearly Sirius wasn't doing a thing until he got something, so Harry gave a wobbly nod to his head.

Sirius twitched harshly again at having to say that, Harry half expected him to chew off his tongue in frustration, but thankfully he didn't call Harry on it again, they all knew it was only in Harry's mind so that would be how he'd describe it.

Remus could feel the usefulness of this information relating to a past event they'd heard about, but for now he was far more concerned hearing Harry wake up already and filed it all away. Unless Voldemort was going to be revealing his mortal weakness, seeing Harry in such intense pain from remembering this would never be worth it.

Harry whispered for Rookwood to take to his feet, and the man was in such haste to do so he nearly fell to the floor again. Even having accomplished this, he still stayed stooped, as if terrified to meet Harry's face.

James felt a disgusted taste lingering in his mouth at such an act he could never comprehend. Such proud Death Eater's treating any man like this was beyond him.

Sirius closed his eyes in blessing that was finally over, his grey eyes looked ready to shatter as he looked back to Harry with more concern than he ever had for anyone in his life.

Harry wasn't looking at any of them, his eyes tight shut and his jaw aching from clenching it so hard to stop his own scream. He hated these visions, hated how they kept inexplicably reminding

him of this connection to Voldemort he had no control over, but most of all he couldn't stand to look at his parents while they were happening. The monster that had cut their life short, and Harry kept reminding them of it all happening just by continuing to live.

Inexplicably, they refused to think the same. That was the only explanation for Lily saying in a tone he could have easily found in Molly Weasley, "Harry love, we should take a break."

He opened his eyes slowly, breathing steadily through his nose to find the pair huddled into each other with, well him in their lap. Maybe they just couldn't disconnect the two from the infant

who'd done nothing to the life he was cursed to live dragging everyone else around him with.

"No," he whispered, still unable to look at any of them, how his dad and friends were probably trying to stop themselves laughing silly at how he had to fight back tears every time this happened,

wondering when Ron would start accusing him of the boy who cried wolf as it seemed he couldn't go any length of time without panicking over something. "No, I just want to," he gestured vaguely back at his stupid biography, trying to grasp hold of anything to take away these poisonous thoughts from himself. He felt like a curse, any managing of happiness seemed destined to be dragged back into the reminder of how quickly he could lose all of it.

Sirius couldn't make himself immediately keep going, sick with worry as everyone else for just what was going through Harry's head. At least no one he'd cared about had been attacked this

time, but for a reason his godson could not explain, the more frequent these visions, the more Harry seemed convinced his life was going to end in ruin. He couldn't imagine how these could

continue to get worse, but surely if they were to get better he wouldn't be treating these like a death omen.

Remus had to nudge him hard to get his attention before whispering in his ear, "we can only help by continuing, that's proven to work already, don't let him dwell on whatever he's blaming himself for."

Sirius gave a jerky nod of agreement, fighting past blurry vision for the print again rather than focusing on his distraught godson.

Not one of them could blame Ron for this assumption, they would have thought the same if they hadn't knowledge of what it had been.

Harry shivered, his seat the only thing keeping him upright. He couldn't understand how Ron had never looked at him with revulsion like he felt for himself during this. Yet he'd found it no more in Ron's face than any of those around him. He wanted to believe that meant something, but he was too stuck in his own pit to grasp anything else except how much worse this was all going to get before these stopped, if they ever did.

Sirius at least looked a little quailed from his earlier outburst. Harry wasn't even referring to Voldemort by name, he was trying to put some distance into what he'd just witnessed. Harry could never really think he had more to do with Voldemort other than the constant...bother he was in Harry's life.

That feeling of significance from before settled on all of them now, Ron and Harry working this out for them feeling like just a little weight had been pushed away so they wouldn't have to

immediately speak of it again while in here. Sirius wished he could be closer to done with this already, he wanted to force Harry to take a break from all of this, but he seemed determined now. Any time Sirius stopped for too long or glanced towards the kitchen, Harry actually would meet his eyes. They were too hard, a distance in them he seemed unable to beat away, but he could still look at Sirius with an expression clearly saying he wanted past this and the only way to do that was for him to keep going.

"Priorities," James managed to say. It came out far too high pitched, but Harry gave him credit for trying when he still couldn't stop rubbing at a scar that wasn't even paining him in here, only in his memories.

Both Sirius and Remus flinched like Harry had tried to curse them. In this future of trying to convince him he needed to stop these, now Harry had clearly convinced himself more than ever

he should be keeping all of this to himself rather than asking for help.

James noticed, and said firmly, "Harry couldn't have told you even if he'd wanted to, there's no way he could get a note like that out." He finished internally he didn't even blame Harry at this point for not wanting to tell anyone else like Dumbledore. If the man couldn't be bothered to explain his actions towards ignoring Harry's existence than his son certainly shouldn't force

himself to be in his company.

Sirius had looked just a bit better at James' reminder, but it was both of some comfort Harry hadn't meant him, and also just a touch more hurtful he hadn't crossed his mind in wanting to say

something about this.

Lily made a high pitched noise of concern, her infant in her lap making some fussing noises at his mother's distress. She spent several moments just crooning to him it was all going to be alright while watching her elder child, who was watching back a look she couldn't place.

"This really is all making a disturbing amount of sense," Remus grumbled, this wasn't helping with their hole trying to change the subject thing. Of course it was a good thing Harry was finally getting some answers, it was absolutely fascinating one scrap of information and Hermione was putting all of this together so easily and saving them from false theories that would only hurt Harry in their speculation.

"Oh Merlin," Lily sighed as that was crammed down their throats. As if the Order wasn't suffering enough these days. They supposed if they'd thought about this one after the last revelation of

where the weapon was being hidden they would have put this together, but considering all the terrible things they'd been trying to keep track of while also trying to keep Harry's mind off of them, it was almost a relief Hermione putting this for them.

Harry had hated his premonitions from the very beginning, almost afraid of this knowledge in his head he couldn't access in knowing these answers, and somehow the worst of all was the feeling he was getting for who it was that would be sent for this.

"Well he's hardly been given a suitable way not to," Sirius scowled for her sudden change.

Lily frowned deeply, wishing Severus had given something more useful to Harry than the same repetitive advice that clearly wasn't being of much help.

"It's almost hurtful she thinks I'm not," Harry grumbled, shaking his head and honestly wishing this whole thing would quite being mentioned lately.

"The first good thing that man's ever done," Remus groused, Harry's mood feeling like an infection. They hadn't kept him smiling for a whole chapter before his high anger was pushing

them all back on edge.

All four of them could be seen rolling their eyes as Hermione continued to act more like a paranoid parent than anything, it wasn't soothing any nerves she couldn't be of any more help than

Snape with anything to say other than more practice at something that was just casing Harry pain.

Sirius chewed on the inside of his cheek unhappily for a moment, but was all the more agitated he couldn't come up with anything to tell Harry either except more transparent hope.

"Oh because that's really going to make me feel better," James said bitterly, fighting back the urge more every moment to walk out of the room and find something to curse.

"Err," Remus began, unsure if he wanted an explanation or it would only make things worse.

"I was eight," Harry began prattling off just for the sudden possession of not having to think about magic for a moment, who ever would have thought being bullied by Dudley would be considered a simpler time for him. "Petunia had just got done cleaning the bathrooms, and Dudley was bored so he wanted to see her yell at me. He tried to pick me up and put me in so I'd have to walk around the house with wet feet. That's where the memory ended for Snape," he finished, but continued on even though he didn't really want to, Remus had been right the first time, this

probably wasn't going to make them feel better. "I bit Dudley so I wouldn't go in though, and then I ran out of the house till I came back near dinner, which I was denied and locked in my cupboard for because Vernon said the the teeth marks were still there. He told Dudley to bite me back, but he didn't want to because he said it was gross. So I said back I thought I should spend the night in the bathroom, I'd already been throwing up all day from nicking him."

He finished and looked around at them again, expecting to see yet more anger or something, but instead he saw an almost proud smirk from James. "Always love hearing you gave them hell back."

Harry managed an honest grin at him, hoping he'd return the favor by telling him some story from his youth again, and James happily provided. "Reminds me of the time Sirius bit Remus, and we

got into this whole argument about what would happen if a werewolf bit a person while he was still human."

Harry busted out laughing more from surprise than anything as he demanded the obvious from his godfather, "why did you bite him?"

"I told him if he took one more of my sugar quills I would," Sirius shrugged, "he clearly didn't take me Siriusly."

Harry doubled up laughing all the harder while Remus rolled his eyes at the lot of them and tried to take the book away from Sirius to keep going. Sirius bared his teeth, Remus rolled his eyes harder, but Sirius kept going.

"I'm disturbed he's parted wisdom on you," James tisked even as he approved of this.

"He has a very vivid imagination," Sirius snarked.

"As opposed to counting your friends again?" Remus smirked.

"All none of them," Sirius agreed.

Lily frowned lightly at them, and James who wasn't bothering to repress a smile. She may be angry at Snape for treating Harry the way he was, but she still knew she'd never devolve into such

petty insults.

"That went without saying," James groused, Lily's eyes flashing in agitation again at once. Even for the one second she'd wanted to defend him it was gone again as he continued insulting her boy

who in no way deserved it.

Sirius cocked his head to the side, some amusement for Harry snapping at him in there, but mostly wanting to make the jab Harry could do Snape's job and they wouldn't need the man around at all. It was all lost though before he'd even formed the idea, he still didn't want Harry having to deal with this, let Snape take the risk.

"You impressed him," Lily said, narrowing her eyes curiously at such a response.

"I think I'm going to faint," James declared, they all looked astounded Snape hadn't just told Harry to shut his mouth again.

"Oh dear," Lily turned flat white in shock, but she hadn't a second to say anything even if she could have hazard a guess what this would do.

She wasn't sure if Sirius just didn't care, or didn't know what that would do, but by the time he'd realized it, he'd simply kept going until he ran out before looking around at his friends with a contemplative look on his face.

"Well, err, I recognized that last one," Remus said awkwardly for Harry. "That was Mary Shilling laughing anyways, our flying practice during first year."

Harry hardly heard him, the same stunned look on his face as the rest of the boys, before they all looked to Lily, who sighed deeply. "I'm not telling you, it's private." She said flatly without looking at any of them.

The fact that she knew what that first memory was about somehow made it even more awkward for them. Still, Sirius turned back with the same look on his face he always did when reading

about Snape, he didn't consider how a parent treated you any excuse for what the guy kept doing to Harry.

"And now we see why," James muttered, his eyes still narrowed as he thought back to many insults he'd made in the past, and actually feeling a little bad for a few of them. He knew Snape

would never do the same though, Snape knew everything Harry had gone through in his life and continued to treat him the exact same way.

Lily had a hard time swallowing for a moment, stinging tears in her own eyes as vivid memories from her own childhood resurfaced. Realizing he'd run to her house in the dead of night and throwing rocks at her window until she came sneaking down. The two staying up in their little grove till sunrise wishing there was some escape from those who hated them. At least her own parents had been a bridge between her and her sister, and she'd tried to be that for Sev and his parents, but it had never truly worked, and she'd never even bothered to find out if it got better after she'd stopped speaking to him. She blinked back into the room to find James with his arm tight around her, brushing at the baby's hair and actually holding his tongue against whatever that look meant until she nodded to Sirius to keep going.

Sirius ground his teeth together hard in frustration for that. Harry was about to be punished again for something from Snape's past.

Harry gasped wildly, startling so bad he nearly fell out of his seat. Sirius glanced to him in concern, then looked to the others for some sort of explanation. They all looked just as stunned

though, unable to understand what was happening here.

"Harry's never been this far before, and Voldemort shouldn't have either!" Lily protested what she was hearing vehemently. "No one should be seeing this!"

"Maybe, maybe Rookwood has though," James ruffled up his brow as he considered the latest Voldemort news. "He worked in this place, right? So he would have shown Voldemort everything he'd seen, and now, now Harry knows as well," he finished sounding just as confused as when he'd started.

"Should it really work like that though?" Harry sounded just as panicky as his mother. "I don't want to know this, see this! I don't want all of his memories and anything he knows in my head!"

He sounded so desperate and panicky by the end, it truly broke the others hearts to see him like this.

"Oh Harry," Lily pleaded, letting the words tumble out on pure instinct. "You can't keep thinking like that-"

"How else am I supposed to think when it keeps being shoved at me!" He snapped back, but Lily wouldn't be deterred.

"You remind yourself why you're doing this! If you want Voldemort out of your head, then you work on every available way to do that! You're worried Voldemort's taking over your life then

you remind yourself of all the people who are on your side and fighting to get rid of him!"

Harry kept watching her like he hoped she'd keep going, but she met his eyes and waited as they ebbed back into that calm, that understanding that had pushed him to cope with every terrible

thing he'd relearned while here.

She nodded fiercely and waved Sirius on. It seemed to take him a moment, to watch the fifteen year old girl crying over the loss of her childhood friend be flipped into that mother who refused to see her child fall into the same hopeless feeling. He went back to reading with a smile of pride on his face.

Harry couldn't believe how grateful he actually felt towards Snape for stopping this. It was the first time in his life he looked past the hateful potions teacher and knew Snape could actually be of some help to his life if he'd quit insulting him every step along the way.

Harry rubbed at where the lump used to be, suddenly more ashamed than ever for is poor Occlumency skills. His mother was right, and so was Snape, he'd never really tried to do this. It

was of some comfort to him his father and friends rolled their eyes for Snape's jab, that they weren't blaming Harry for this...yet. He pulled away from that at once, there would never be a time they'd blame him because of whatever this connection was, right?!

Sirius startled so bad he nearly dropped the book from surprise. Then he cast his mind out before anyone could get too panicky, and said the first thing that came to mind. "Finally, something

entertaining is happening around there!"

Remus gave him a look of great concern as he demanded, "just what could a scream be used for as a good thing?"

"For shame Moony!" Sirius wagged his finger in his face. "Scream of surprise, scream of delight, hell even screaming in laughter! Don't get so dower on me a scream is only a bad thing now."

"I worry about him," Lily told James in an almost conversational tone of voice.

James agreed, but instead he told him, "well get on with it then, or we'll be spending the next hour with you recanting the last time you made a girl scream, and no one wants to hear that again."

Sirius rolled his eyes but complied anyways.

"Someone standing in the middle of the school screaming? Oh yea, just slipped my mind," Remus rolled his eyes.

"I'm not even sure why you hesitated," James scoffed.

Lily felt goosebumps erupt on her at this. If whatever was happening was upsetting McGonagall, but she wasn't stepping in, then what the bloody hell could be happening!?

"What in the world..." Remus tried, and failed, but the shock was keeping them all from saying much of anything, Sirius hurrying through words so fast they were mashing together. None of them had a very fond feeling for Trelawney, but it was impossible to believe she was a spectacle without anyone stepping in to whatever mayhem this was!

"You have got to be kidding me!" Lily shrieked, the baby in her lap now fussing in his blankets in her lap. "That is, this isn't, how could she-" she forced herself to stop screaming because her child had joined in, but the anger wasn't being cooled one little bit.

"Why can't this stupid curse kick in early already," Remus scowled. "I want her gone well before the end of the year, like the staircase collapsing on her right now!"

Sirius was too shocked to keep going for a moment. Like Harry had said before, this had been forthcoming with how obvious it was Trelawney may not be around the rest of the year, but no

one could have foreseen such a brutal showing like this.

"Does she even have anywhere else to go?" Remus whispered. He really didn't know much about her except for her classes, but suddenly he wondered if she was like Hagrid, if she had no other

place to call home like a few of the other teachers did.

He hadn't expected an answer, and it was probably kinder he hadn't gotten one, no one wanted to consider the alternative.

"This is..." sick didn't begin to cover it, but James was failing to come up with another word. He'd never even seen some of the Death Eaters out there enjoy watching someone else in so much pain, in such a public way!

"How she dare!" Lily was still fired up over every detail of this. "Them! She's no right to put herself in line with anything to do with that school, with a decision no respectable person would ever dream of putting together!"

James was shaking his head in honest sympathy for the two. Though he couldn't imagine just standing around crying during this scene, he knew he would have been in Umbridge's face telling

her what's what about this even for a teacher he didn't like. The woman may have the audacity to kick a teacher out of his school, but she couldn't force that teacher to leave the premises...yet.

Then his mind offered one last desperate hope, where was Dumbledore? Surely he'd find some way to stop this? The idea was dashed as soon as it had appeared though, as Dumbledore hadn't

seemed to be doing much of anything these days.

Lily finally felt herself relaxing, just a touch, as she hummed with approval. McGonagall could always be counted on to offer up some comfort to those who needed it, she was still stunned it had

taken this long for their old Transfiguration teacher to step in for this injustice.

"I feel the need to reiterate the book now," Sirius beamed, "what an entrance."

Remus smacked him lightly and called him an idiot even as he was smiling as well. Finally Dumbledore's timing felt like it was back on their side.

"I'm afraid you've misplaced your soul, but I won't be the one getting it back from the dementor," Remus groused.

"Actually, I heard that if a dementor kissed her, she'd suck out its soul," James stated.

Sirius laughed, the first time he'd really been able to do so when mention of those things had come up.

"What's he got up his sleeve?" James demanded with sudden eagerness, his kindling of hope finally being given life again Dumbledore would pull through on making this actually somehow

better.

"Ha!" Sirius barked in triumph, all five of them seconds away from pumping the air in victory. "Dumbledore's not going to let Trelawney just walk away from this!"

Harry was still grinning along with the rest of them even as he distantly wondered if Dumbledore had some ulterior motive for this other than just proving a point to Umbridge. He wondered if he was growing paranoid, surely Dumbledore didn't have to have a second reason for doing everything.

"I love this place," Remus said wistfully. His best memories had been collected in those walls, and now he was adding another from a time outside his own. He'd never underestimated how lucky he

was to even be going there, to be treated like any other student on a daily basis, and now he was getting the fortune of watching the teachers band together for one of their own again. He didn't

even pity Umbridge, but continued waiting impatiently for that toad to be ostracized from such a place already, for daring to tamper with such a home for so many.

"You'd have to put her in that exact place eh?" Sirius said poisonously. "No other bloody room in that grand castle would be good enough, you also need to invade her room!"

"Dumbledore won't let her," James said with conviction once again, even this small win of Dumbledore's against Umbridge had finally restored his lacking faith in his old headmaster.

"He works fast," Lily said slowly as they all paused in confusion of this. Apparently this had all taken place in less than an hour, which means someone very close to the Minister must have

warned Dumbledore this was fixing to go down and the man acted lightning fast in getting a replacement set even before Umbridge had gotten the paper herself. It couldn't have been Percy, but they couldn't think of anyone else who'd know about this and been able to warn Dumbledore in time for him to go fetch, well whoever was getting the new job.

All three Marauders burst out laughing, a near euphoric mood at their headmaster pushing such a loophole into that dowey face!

Harry gave an awkward smile for this announcement amongst the shocked faces. His only memory of the centaur wasn't a particularly fond one even if his life had been saved by him.

"Well, who would have seen that coming?" Sirius blinked in surprise.

"This certainly is, unprecedented," Remus agreed as Sirius passed Harry the book, very obviously keeping it open for his spot with an obvious look at James who didn't get it.

Lily ignored the lot of them and though happy Trelawney got some kind of win out of this, couldn't help but say, "well considering he once saved Harry's life, let's at least hope he won't pick up on Trelawney's trend of telling Harry he's going to die."


	27. THE CENTAUR AND THE SNEAK

Harry continued on with very mixed feelings. His lessons with Snape didn't seem to be getting better, in fact every aspect of his life in school kept getting worse like a very steep cliff he wasn't going to be able to stay balanced on much longer.

"To take lessons from a Centaur?" Lily puzzled for a moment. "Yeah, I would be, a bit."

"He's still going to be teaching the same nonsense as Trelawney," Remus insisted, "he'll just be part horse while doing it."

"There's some novelty just for saying that to other students though," Sirius chuckled.

James looked a bit concerned the girl was going to accidentally blow her face off, but he'd never tell that to her face, she had to learn consequences.

"I thought it was a rule, all girls like horses," Sirius grinned.

Lily rolled her eyes at his idiocy, while Harry had a pleasant little smile for some idea he couldn't quite place, but he had a feeling he had a fondness for horses he wasn't yet sure of.

"Can't argue with that one though," Sirius shrugged, he'd never liked the plants that made noises in particular.

Lily grinned for her child. As daft as he could be, he was never uncaring.

"We'd all say," Lily shook her head in disgust, still adamant she wouldn't have stood idly by during that. She didn't care what Umbridge could do to her, she'd never just stand by and watch

such public humiliation take place even against someone she didn't like.

"I feel like that should be impossible," James groaned.

"And yet I believe her," Remus said grimly.

"Am not arguing that point," Lily sighed.

"Dumbledore said he'd want to be on the ground floor, and now I get why," Sirius said, looking confused at Ron's lapse.

"Maybe Ron wasn't there, he'd left already," Remus reminded, the whole school hadn't been crowded around after all, it was the tail end of dinner he recalled, and Hermione might have convinced him to get to some school work early, for once.

"I've never more than poked my head into these," Lily said curiously, wondering if Firenze was going to do anything more than the usual set up.

"I think that counts," she said aloud in surprise.

"Wow," Sirius exaggerated the word out of curiosity for what that face meant. "Let's see what we can do to have Firenze get the job before Trelawney just for this."

"Sounds like a sight," James said, feeling a buzz pulse through him for wanting to see this for himself.

Harry felt like the first day of school again, he'd never liked being singled out, especially a teacher, and especially by such an...outstanding teacher. Even if they had already met.

"Really? Maybe these things should come with cliff notes if that was implied somewhere I didn't see," Remus muttered, causing Sirius to snort loudly while the others ignored him.

"Oh dear," Lily sighed.

"Oh Centaur," James corrected. "I can imagine the rest of his heard isn't too happy with this."

Lily gave him the stank eye for the correction without disagreeing.

"While I don't blame them," Harry sighed, "don't they ever get tired of staring at me?"

"Stop doing things to cause them to stare at you, like get saved by a centaur," Sirius said in a vain attempt at helpfulness.

James smirked with pride and asked, "Everyone else was sitting on the floor, who was the one who decided they got the tree stump?"

"Some Ravenclaw student who always sat on the floor rather than the poofs in Trelawney's class," Harry shrugged. "I think her name was Felicity or something, Trelawney always seemed to like

her anyways. I think it's because she used to be a Ravenclaw herself."*

The boys chuckled lightly at the display, though Lily suspected it was just because they would have done the same.

"Oh," Lily's face folded in concern and confusion.

"Well I imagine the other centaurs weren't pleased with this," Remus agreed uneasily, "but I wouldn't have thought they'd flat kick him out for doing this for Dumbledore."

"I can picture it," Sirius said grimly. "This is strike number two that we know about in Firenze helping out humans, normally we're tolerated at best. You remember Bane's reaction," he spoke

more to Harry now, seeing the pity on his face for someone who'd once saved his life. "This is an even worse offense than Firenze giving you a ride, if you can believe."

Harry just nodded he understood even as he continued to feel worse for Firenze constantly being on the outs of his kind for his help.

"Guess they just realized they don't have a last name for him," James tried to change the subject.

"Do Centaurs have last names?" Harry asked, wondering if this was just something they were missing, though as Dumbledore hadn't introduced him with one it seemed more likely not.

"Not that I've ever heard," Remus said with hints of fascination creeping in. "I'm not even sure how they name each other, very little is known about their culture as they're so private about it."

Sirius took the opportune subject that didn't come up much to ask a question that popped into his head, "Do baby centaur's breast feed, or do the females have-"

"And I'm going to stop you right there on the grounds of reminding, I don't know," Remus said the last three words particularly clear. "Nor will I ever ask one. Harry please keep going," he turned to all but beg before Sirius could come up with more.

"Wouldn't have guessed that from their last class," James rolled his eyes as he remembered the thestrals.

They didn't even know Firenze and they all felt genuine sorrow for the poor guy. There could have been more reasons going on than just him taking the job, but the point was what was with

this year and everyone being so isolated?

Sirius snorted just a bit in surprise. She'd laughed at Hermione for not liking horses much, but didn't know they were called herds?

"Does she know nothing of the Forbidden Forest?" James spluttered at that question.

"I didn't know there were any in there until you told me," Lily frowned at him. "Most people actually listen to the rule of not going in there, so wouldn't know what was in there."

James still looked too stunned to have even heard her.

All five of them winced hard, Remus even shifting a bit like he'd put a Shield Charm up in a second for the poor kid. That would get you killed with any other Centaur except this one, and

even then, they weren't sure what kind of temper Firenze could have.

"Brave of her," Lily murmured, "I don't think I'd have kept questioning him after that."

"There are more centaurs than just those two," James told Harry.

"Though I'd believe it of any in there, even that calmer one," Sirius shrugged, not remembering the name of the last centaur that night, but his point still stood.

That gave them all a smile again, Lily humming with appreciation for the visual.

"I'll bet she loved that," Sirius snorted.

"Wonder who's going to win their favor, the pretty horse, or their first favorite teacher," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Considering he's not pandering to what they were first taught, my money would be on Trelawney," James shrugged.

"I rather like him though," Lily's grin kept twitching with warmth. "If this is how his Divination classes had always gone, at least he's keeping things at a broader level like I always thought it to be, not scaring the kids."

"Is she really going to argue for the old teacher to the new one?" Sirius ruffled his brow, though he couldn't help admire her determination just a bit even not liking Trelawney.

Harry hadn't much thought of it, thinking of how a few students had done the same for some of their favorite previous Defense teachers.

"They seem to think rather highly of themselves though," James chuckled.

"We already knew that," Remus rolled his eyes.

"You probably realized it from experience," Lily muttered.

Sirius couldn't help snickering. They at least knew Trelawney as a real Seer, but those kids didn't and were reacting anyways just out of respect for a teacher, he couldn't help indulging them even if he wouldn't have done the same.

"Isn't Mars the Roman god of war?" James reminded. "So apparently it's okay to predict a war is coming for the whole world, but not as a warning for when to handle hot things?"

"You lot just love having a go at everyone, don't you?" Lily rolled her eyes even already knowing the answer. She never would have guessed they'd be poking fun at Firenze's class with anything to do with what Trelawney had told Parvati and Lavender, but she could also tell they were only doing it for their own amusement, this hadn't turned them into believers of this branch of magic any more than McGonagall even with their knowledge of a war to come.

"I do love a teacher that tells you what you're doing is pointless," Sirius snickered louder than ever.

"A valuable lesson in itself," Remus nodded solemnly.

"Wonder what his finals are going to be like," Sirius muttered for himself, he still wanted to be sick at the thought of Trelawney's first.

"I'm more worried you're going to find details of that in history rather than the stars," James sighed.

"Odd way to start, doesn't he see Hagrid himself enough now," Lily frowned.

Harry's face puckered with concern, he had a feeling about Firenze's message, and it wasn't strictly a good thing.

The others were clearly in his exact line of thinking, wondering what on Earth Hagrid could be up to that would have him being warned off by a Centaur.

"So he's not even planning on leaving the castle for a bit," James wasn't very distracted from whatever Hagrid was doing by this scrap of information no matter how depressing it was.

"That poor guy, I can't imagine how shut up he'd feel, oh wait, yes I can," Sirius grumbled.

Remus gave him a sideways glare, wishing he'd stop referring to himself like it was really happening to him, but then he supposed, Sirius was a bit shut up in here without his say so, so he let the comment slide.

"Thank you," they all muttered, honestly hoping for an answer for once. Hagrid had been nothing but a mystery all year, and the longer it dragged out, the more uneasy they got.

"That's, fair," James conceded even if he did sigh with disappointment.

"Hagrid's doing something really off his rocker in the Forest though," Remus surmised from that.

"You think it's what's causing his injuries, he's trying to domesticate something new?" Sirius guessed.

"If he found something on the way back from the giants and been working on it since then," Lily grudgingly agreed.

"Please be anything other than a dragon," Sirius muttered.

Harry's headache was returning with a flurry now. They were very close, he could feel that, but despite that they still weren't close enough he could safely understand without hurting himself

further, so in their lull without any further guesses he tried to keep going.

"That's really getting depressing," James grumbled for Lily alone. He didn't want his son to hear how much this was bringing them all down, but really, his son's life needed far more fun in it than they were being offered.

"It worries me he didn't bother to deny for a second he's doing something," Lily groaned.

"Guess by this point he knew not to bother with Harry," James grudgingly pointed out.

"You know very well what I'm up to," Sirius told Harry with mock confusion. "Can't get up to very many things in those walls."

Harry offered him a smile for the joke as always, even if his eyes did tighten with concern for the reminder.

Harry felt a very uneasy tingling course through him for that, fear that Hagrid wouldn't actually be Umbridge's next victim of this school, but he also couldn't imagine any other teachers on

probation so tried to let it go.

"What on Earth is Hagrid training?" Remus demanded with genuine concern now. He valued magical creatures lives as well, he could certainly imagine defending very many, but something of how Hagrid put that really made him believe this wasn't just any beast.

"I'll be sure to let you know if I find out," Sirius snarked, but all of them were watching with more concern than ever for what Hagrid could be doing. The worst bit was, if Hagrid really believed that, then they couldn't even fault him anymore for whatever he was doing and would feel the need to back him up on it now on principle.

Lily crooned for the poor thing, the ones who had taken these tests in full understanding of how stressful they were.

"That's putting it mildly," Harry muttered.

"Probably put all that on herself," Remus scoffed in disgust.

"And yet I can't wait for Harry to inform her otherwise," James smirked.

That put a spark of enthusiasm into all of them at once. Patronuses were a very special kind of protection to them, especially after what Harry went through, and they were enthralled to see even more.

"Oh," Lily crooned, "I always expected mine to be a bird, maybe even that one."

"But you don't like to fly?" James pointed out with just a slight pout, he loved that his wife's was his own.

"But I love birds, I always wanted my own, and swans mate for life. I knew whoever I'd fall in love with I'd lover forever."

James looked nullified and stopped arguing the point, while Lily continued to eye Harry with curiosity. If Cho had decided Harry was the one for her, that could mean he truly had found the

love of his life as well.

"I don't see why they can't be both," Sirius smirked.

"Don't worry Padfoot, we think you're plenty pretty," Remus snarked while Sirius frowned at him. At least he acknowledged what his Patronus was, Remus would hardly bare to say it aloud.

"I think scary is what she needs right now," Remus said with sympathy. "Something to help her better grasp what she's going to do, just trying without motivation won't get you very far."

"Apparently the motivation to see the pretty animal isn't good enough for everyone," James smirked at Sirius, who stuck his tongue out.

Lily sighed for the poor dear. This really was advanced magic even without the dementor around, it was no reflection on him if this was still a touch above his ability.

"How many times had you reminded him of that?" Sirius snorted, that was the first thing anyone said when telling how to do a Patronus. "Haven't you learned your own lesson? Being told the

same advice helps nothing."

"I was trying to do it the same way Remus taught me," Harry defended. "I told them to try different happy memories, something really powerful to them."

"Hey," Remus said in protest, and some concern, "how come Dean wasn't hexed for telling Seamus?"

"Dean asked me if he could come along now that we were speaking to each other," Harry shrugged. "I didn't ask for details, but Hermione agreed and said it wouldn't affect her charm, I suppose she may have temporarily lifted it for Dean so he could tell Seamus."

Harry looked bemused for a moment at Seamus' words, and was not at all expecting his godfather at his side to grin in a now familiar way as he declared, "its good Seamus has come back when he did, now he can realize all the hairy situations Harry gets up to."

James got to his feet just so he could smack Sirius upside the head for that one, while Lily looked horrified. "How long have you been sitting on that one! Merlin, James you couldn't have warned me earlier that's why Sirius was so happy when we told him our baby's name!"

"It's not like that was the first thing I thought of," James defended as he kept looking in exasperation at his best friend.

"HIs name pun wasn't my first thought," Sirius emphasized, before smirking over at Harry who was still snickering away. "It was the second. The first was how much I'm going to love this kid."

James wanted to keep scowling at him, trying to pass along his infernal joke like that, but it was impossible to hold any anger after that. Lily muttered her husband was a traitor even while she was smiling in agreement.

Remus happily decided to change the subject before Sirius could come up with the idea that all of these Patronuses were hairy thanks to Harry, and instead said loudly, "Was it a river otter, or a sea otter?"

"Err," Harry said in surprise, he hadn't realized there were two different kinds, never having looked up much about animals.

"Was it small and fuzzy, or bigger and rather menacing," Sirius elaborated.

"Small and fuzzy," Harry recalled.

"Sea otter then," Remus decided.

"Can you imagine her animagus," Lily grinned fondly, "she'd be absolutely adorable."

"You've never called us adorable," James accused.

"As if you need the validation," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Oh no, Hermione's going to find out about that," Sirius drawled.

"I'm wondering why he's there," Remus said curiously. "He's never interrupted a DA meeting before."

Lily felt a shot of horror at the look on Harry's face that promised it may not be for a good reason, but they'd been enjoying their little chat for so long she asked, "How many others had managed one?"

"Quite a few," Harry shook himself, more than happily staying on track. "Ah, Luna's was a rabbit, the twins was a raven and a coyote, though I'm not sure who was who, err, Ginny's was a horse, Ron's was really coming along, it really had a shape there for a moment but it hadn't distinguished itself quite yet when Dobby came in."

"That's brilliant," Remus congratulated Harry, he truly was an excellent teacher to be helping them out with this, though he agreed with Harry it was all for show unless they could do it around the creature, this was still quite good of all of them.

"Oh dear," Lily managed to get out, face going blank with shock for a moment before the fear slammed in. This was supposed to be Harry's comfort place, his one reason for continuing school,

what bad news was worth Dobby interrupting this. Watching Harry now was not encouraging an answer, but thankfully she wasn't the one reading, Harry as always forcing himself to go on with a

set look in place no matter how much his voice shook for it.

Sirius shivered slightly. Normally allowing your Patronus to fade meant the fight was over, but this still managed to feel ominous for whatever Dobby was fixing to say.

"Spit it out," James got out through gritted teeth, but his flashing eyes made it clear they all had a guess what had happened, and it wasn't McGonagall finding out.

"I'm going to kill someone," Sirius growled.

"How!" Remus demanded. "Did any of the house-elves even know about this besides Dobby, because we know it wasn't him."

"Maybe it was Winky," James said with a scowl. "The little ones probably still so out of it she'd blab anything, and I wouldn't put it past Umbridge to somehow put the pieces together to follow a link between her, Dobby, and Harry and realize something was up."

"How would she have known that?" Harry managed to get out instead of screaming in frustration. "We'd been really careful, Umbridge shouldn't have had a clue to go looking for this at all." He

was getting a terrible feeling, his mind flipping through all members of the DA, he just knew he should have realized someone was missing but he couldn't place a name in his panic.

Sirius could feel almost a laugh somewhere in there, for the chaos that could be erupted from this group suddenly stampeding through corridors in their effort to avoid that frog reject, but it was lost as his heart thudded into his ribs picturing what would happen if they got caught.

"Don't you even," Remus told him breathlessly, all eyes locked on Harry to watch him get out of this, but Sirius had no self-restraint as he blurted, "I'm sure you could have used my help right then, sorry I couldn't have offered it."

Harry broke off for a moment to chuckle weakly for his godfather, but it did nothing to relieve the tense set of his mouth, the anger he was having to run from the one thing he'd been using to fight back.

"Err, Harry," Lily couldn't help but remind softly, "I don't think you can be giving him orders."

"I don't know," James suddenly put in with an interested look on his face. "I've never known a free elf before, but maybe without being tied to anyone's family, anyone can give them an Order

and they'd have to follow through with it. The ones at Hogwarts are compelled to follow any staff members orders, their 'family' is the school after all, maybe this is an even more loose interpretation of-"

He cut himself off as he realized Harry was practically vibrating in place from failed adrenaline, and James realized there was a time and place for this speculation, and now wasn't it.

Lily shifted uneasily in her seat, beyond pleased Harry had taken the time to do that for Dobby, but all the more worried what his delay would cost him. She couldn't help the visions flashing

across her eyes of what worse than detention Umbridge could get away with doing to Harry when she found out about this.

Sirius opened his mouth with a look in place promising it wasn't helpful advice, but Harry hadn't taken notice in time for him to begin as he kept reading feverishly.

"That about described everything about him," James muttered hatefully, the lot of them growing more tense by the second.

"What's he even doing there?" Sirius howled in frustration. "That scum sucker has nothing to do with-"

Harry normally had not a problem with them ranting about Malfoy, but his throat was threatening to close shut with fear if he didn't keep using it, so he kept going loudly for an explanation instead.

Remus was grinding his teeth in deep frustration more every second, wishing those DA kids could turn all those spells they'd learned onto some useful target practice right about now.

"I can take her face off so you never have to see any expression again," Sirius tried to offer in an attempt at a polite voice.

"That doesn't mean a thing!" Lily hissed in outrage. "Harry could have just been running down the hall for any reason, she has no right to-" she cut herself off and ran her nails against her scalp, snagging a few strands of hair but forcing herself not to keep going.

"Kill Umbridge more like," James honestly believed. No matter how bad the overbearing mother got, he had to believe she'd stand up for her kids before siding with that fake blood stain.

"Poor girl will have heart failure," Remus said with absolute belief.

Lily watched her son read through all of that with such mixed feelings, but a surprisingly warm glow. Even in the face of his own expulsion, where he'd likely end up back at the Dursleys for

perhaps an hour before Sirius showed up and murdered them all, he was still far more concerned about everyone else. Her son really was the most genuine person she'd ever met.

"Why's he there?" Sirius snarled in outrage.

"Umbridge may have sent something along when she found out this information, wanted him to be there so he could gloat," Remus pointed out with disgust.

"Another Auror, I'm guessing," James ruffled up his brows. "Probably Kingsley's partner."

"I want Harry to pause for just a moment so I can laugh at this one," Sirius snickered, though was as pleased as anyone Fudge clearly suspected nothing of Kingsley at least for him to be there.

Harry muttered something quite foul under his breath that made Lily frown slightly at him no matter how much he deserved it. This was twice now Percy had been in on Fudge's side of the

room and as obnoxious as ever. She wished she'd shared her idea now, that maybe Percy was still trying to help in his own way...but she had no more evidence than a mother's wish the boy hadn't really turned completely on his family.

"Not all of them should be me at once," Sirius only contemplated for the barest second before continuing on the same breath, "at least two of them could be Prongs. Sorry Moony, I've never

met anyone who wanted to act like you though."

Remus was torn between smacking him and telling him to shut up that time, but Harry was ignoring them both.

"A truly terrifying face," James agreed without an ounce of mocking, "I'm surprised Fudge isn't jumping out the window.

"I've noticed that frequently about you," Lily praised. "Though I do wish you'd stop finding reasons for me to realize that."

For a moment Harry was worried his mother had changed her mind, and in the face of expulsion, she regretted all he'd been doing with the DA, but she was as calm as ever, her face set in calm,

promising retribution to anyone who dared do a single thing against her son for what he was doing.

"I can only imagine what Harry would have done in that circle," Sirius said nastily, knowing his godson would not have devolved into tears, but probably started a full on war in the middle of the Entrance Hall.

"To show some competence in the farce of your employee?" Remus put politely.

"I'd go for deniability," Lily said grimly, "he was caught in the middle of a hallway doing nothing, what can they prove."

"Since Dobby showed up, I think they did have something of use," James disagreed, "so at this point, it's going out with a bang."

Harry felt like he was freezing over in confusion. He was angry, still high on adrenaline, and still Dumbledore wouldn't look him in the eye even while giving him a piece of advice? What had he

done so wrong to push Dumbledore into such a confusing state?

"Not sure I'd buy that one, do you think he'd let you do a redo?" Sirius asked, his eyes narrowed critically for what Dumbledore was doing and so hardly paying attention to what he was saying

any more than usual.

"I believe he just answered that, did he forget to turn his ears on as well as his brain?" Lily grumbled.

"Those aren't Decrees, their farces of Umbridge's intelligence," Remus stated.

"Don't talk to others, don't have magazines, I get to pick the teachers I work with," Sirius ticked off on his fingers, generalizing a few but putting together, "she's basically trying to force others to be as miserable as she is."

"I can tell Umbridge that I think she's a revolutionary teacher, doesn't mean it's true," Lily insisted, still hoping Harry could lie his way out of this one.

"Credit for trying?" James offered.

"Oh yes, please do," Sirius managed to get out through a deep throated growl, "I've been wanting to practice cursing multiple people at once, the more the merrier."

"You wouldn't know, you tried to dismiss Harry's," Remus sniffed.

"She what?" Lily shrieked in outrage.

"Glory, would not have called that," Sirius said in disgust. "I just thought she'd stop showing up, not push her friend under a bus."

"This is-" James worked his face furiously to stop himself raging and screaming. He couldn't help comparing this to his own friend abandoning him in the worst way possible in this dismal future,

now his son was going to be suffering the consequences yet again.

Harry sat there, stewing for a moment with an odd look in place. He was furious at what Marietta had done, but he could already feel some grim satisfaction as well, she got her dues for betraying their group, so he kept going loudly over their angry protests.

"So her whole line has been pissing me off this year," James hissed, still wanting to spit in someone's face for causing him heart failure after Sirius' last pop up in the school.

They would have laughed even harder than the first time if the threat of Harry being expelled wasn't the result of this misfortune. It didn't at all erase the tight smiles though, Hermione had done better than they'd ever imagined with her spell work.

"How long do you think that curse lasts?" Sirius said wistfully.

"Not long enough," James snapped, his eyes narrowed hatefully for this.

"The better question is, where's Hermione so she can teach me how to do this," Remus smirked.

"Oh sure, bravery is now snitching on your friends," Lily muttered under her breath. She couldn't imagine why Marietta had gone and done this so much later after it had started, but the injustice of it was infuriating.

"Oh we never doubted that for a moment," Sirius said with relish, all of them agreeing she'd more than outdone herself this time. The girl had an unfounded talent in the trouble making part of her life she didn't indulge in nearly enough for their liking.

"Why does that name ring a bell?" Lily muttered.

"Not sure, but he clearly wasn't bandaged enough, as he was still breathing," James snarled, always in disbelief how his sons luck had managed to put that meeting in the same time as an informant of Umbridge's also being there.

"That was it," Sirius blinked in surprise, before narrowing with a sneer. "Wish I was more surprised he got away with his problems by ratting out the system." He'd never used that phrase in such a way since he'd learned of someone's animagus, but never before would he have had the need to put such a slant on someone he never would have thought would use it like that. He still

regretted the jab when James flinched horribly at the reminder and Remus stiffened in his seat.

"It wasn't illegal at the time," Lily couldn't help but correct with a raised brow, even while she felt like a fool for calling something so simple illegal in any regards. Merlin it was a farce on their future that was a thing.

James smiled grimly for his wife, wishing now more than ever she could have been there to counter all this.

"Well he could have been," Remus huffed. "He was a criminal trying to get out of charges and so reported some toff to get him out of trouble."

"I don't think they're going to play whose word against who's in this instance," James shook his head, "when one works too well in their need."

"Hardy har," Sirius rolled his eyes in disgust.

Harry wouldn't have been surprised to see lightning shooting out of his dad as he howled, "would he stop bringing that up! It's not their fault they have to figure out everything for you because you're too much of a blithering idiot to see past your own reflection!"

Lily had to spend several moments soothing their fussing infant who was crying just as loudly as his father, trying to fight back tears of anger at Harry's life constantly being played off as a joke like this.

While just as angry and not at all aware of the nerve thumping in his jaw line, Remus had caught on a much more interesting part of that. "What on earth did he mean reversal of time, Dumbledore

told him about that bit? Why?! The only part that was relevant to was Sirius' escape, and I highly doubt Dumbledore sat around explaining that."

This was odd enough it at least put them off trying to pull another vanishing stunt and going after Fudge next, so Harry took the opportunity to keep going the moment he realized no one had a

good answer for why this information had been shared with Fudge, though instantly regretted it.

Sirius snarled in frustration, his hands making a wringing motion even as a flare of pity wanted to take a pinch at him. He pictured Percy too much like Regulus, though ironically in reverse. At this point he wasn't even sure if Percy would realize in time his mistake and come groveling back, with a few well deserved hexes from a few of his brothers.

"I don't understand why you didn't," Lily said flatly.

Dumbledore merely explained that Umbridge had declared the meeting in the Hog's Head illegal, when the Decree for organizations was not so until two days later.

"Ha!" Sirius let out a sharp bark of laughter that they all felt covered that quite nicely.

"I wish," Remus said with a pleasant smile.

"Wonder who she had to pay off to figure out that grain of intelligence," James snarked.

Lily ruffled her brow as she tried to understand where Dumbledore could be going with that one. Marietta was proof further things had happened, otherwise she wouldn't have been jinxed.

Remus opened his mouth in confusion, wondering if perhaps Fawkes was in the back doing something random, but didn't press on the idea.

"Hasn't exactly been deactivated now, has it," Sirius rolled his eyes.

Harry stopped short, his mind spinning back to the sensation he'd just felt, but he couldn't imagine how the two pieces yet fit together as his mum demanded, "did she have a change of heart?"

"Bit late for that," James scoffed, "after the punishments written cross her face."

Harry decided he was overthinking things, and actually felt a bubble of hope inside him once more, hoping this was the last time he'd be threatened with expulsion at least for this year.

"Maybe she's speaking Bulgarian," Remus offered helpfully as if offering McGonagall and Umbridge another solution.

Sirius snorted and started snickering, but his eyes were still trained menacingly on the book.

"She what?" Lily shrieked, nearly falling into hysterics. "Does this lime tart have no bounds, she just grabbed a child!" The transgression against Harry still weighed heavily on her, she was afraid even if all the students who weren't expelled would still be getting detentions just for Umbridge suspecting them.

Harry didn't even like Marietta and he'd felt the need to jump forward and help her, and not caring what consequences came from that he flitted forward in a rush.

James took a slow, deep breath in thanks for Dumbledore stepping in. Even acting as odd as the man was, he was about to accuse him of being Imperiused this was getting so odd of late, at least

he still always stepped in when it counted.

"You see that Harry?" Sirius wagged his finger in his godsons face with a triumphant, yet still stern look. "Now imagine if you'd gone and told Dumbledore about her punishments. I'll bet he'd have her out of that castle before you could finish packing her bags."

For just a moment, Harry believed him, and honestly regretted not having said something. What if it would have given Dumbledore more a chance to get rid of her sooner?

"It's good to know how others act when they're stressed," Remus said acidly, "though I suppose this means she was always out of her mind."

"We already knew that Moony," James reminded, his face still flushed from anger as he again glanced at the back of Harry's hand.

"What on earth?" Lily squeaked, nobody was that docile.

"Wait a minute," Harry frowned, flipping back a page and again staring at the odd sensation he'd overpassed, and he felt a suspicion rise in him at the same time he looked up and saw something try to click together for the others. It was such a wild idea though, no one dared say it...

"But Harry closed the door when he left," James yelped in outrage, he specifically remembered that. "There's no way she could have known the exact same phrase to reopen the same room!"

"What if the room was asked for evidence of this though," Remus said uneasily. "It could have pulled up the same room they were then using."

It shouldn't have been possible, but somehow they were managing to grow more angry by the minute Umbridge had now found out this secret place and how to use it on top of everything else

Harry was facing. Selfishly, Sirius almost thought it would be a relief for Harry to be expelled by this point, spend out the rest of his year with him until that toad was gone by whatever happened at the end of the year. He'd be behind when he came back next year, but anything would feel more peaceful than this mess of a place their old school was turning into.

James face palmed and said something he wouldn't normally have. He'd understood the purpose of the list for Hermione's jinx, and suddenly wondered if that had been destroyed if it would have

negated the effects then, otherwise he couldn't imagine why that had been kept around.

"I," Lily faltered for a moment as she tried to come up with an excuse for this things existence, before finally snapping, "okay, so they're not allowed in groups of three, but you never specified their names weren't, there's nothing illegal about this still, she still hasn't gotten proof, especially if Marietta is retracting."

Remus sighed, thinking only with this batch of dung bomb rejects masquerading as Ministry people could a sentence as spectacularly stupid as Lily's exist.

"And that's still funny," Sirius smirked.

"Err," James began in confusion, ruffling his brow at what Dumbledore was cooking up.

Remus bounced his knee uneasily, he didn't like what Dumbledore had tried to imply with that...

"Oh bollocks," Sirius suddenly paled in shock.

Sirius laughed darkly. He'd imagined a few times now tossing people into fires, and now Fudge was doing the action for him. It would have been much more satisfactory if his mind wasn't

spinning full tilt in worry of where this seemed to be heading.

Remus said something in gibberish, shock was preventing true words.

"This is Dumbledore's plan?" Lily looked genuinely worried for her old headmaster's mental health. "How? Why? This doesn't fix the original problem of what Harry was doing, they were

still 'caught' in the group, Dumbledore's only sentencing himself to an even larger problem and then Harry'll get kicked out of school!"

"Maybe not though," James corrected with a calculating look in place. "Ever wondered why Sirius told so many rabbit jokes when someone asked about the nicknames, or why we set up so many elaborate pranks sometimes but others we just cursed people. All depended on the time of the month, and a red herring."

Lily nodded in understanding, but it didn't do much to lessen her worry, she wasn't as sure Fudge would be so easily distracted as from his vendetta against the both of them.

"I'm sure that's a first response," Remus said absently, feeling several steps behind from shock at what the Minister was actually fixing to do here...

"Dumbledore sure thinks highly of himself," Sirius muttered, his eyes still a little too wide from surprise at this turn of events, he couldn't even quite wrap his head around this happening yet.

"I'm fairly confident he never said that," James stated, looking queasy at such a fast turn, funnily enough coming from a Quidditch player. He couldn't help it, he'd have much more easily dodged a Bludger than grasped the idea of where Dumbledore was headed, he hadn't even a second to breath in relief Harry wasn't expelled but now...

"Snag?" Lily squeaked, her eyes distant and very happy it was Harry reading, she knew her mind wouldn't have been able to keep up with all of this.

Sirius snorted so violently his nose nearly fell off. He couldn't help it, this situation was so ridiculous of course he had to laugh, because otherwise he'd be admitting that Dumbledore was

having a chat with the Minister about being arrested!

Remus felt a wild laugh crack his expression as well. The image Harry was describing was mind boggling, and yet he fully believed in what Dumbledore said was true...but the fact that he was

saying it!

"I hate having the same expression as him," Harry managed to say, though it helped nothing as he could still feel it stuck in place. After Dumbledore had been ignoring him all year, now he was doing this...

"I don't think Merlin would have an answer for you," Lily told. For the man who'd gone toe to toe with Voldemort, the idea of anyone else having a go at him did indeed seem...foolish.

"I find it more like Dumbledore against having to fake it against Kingsley," Sirius finally recovered himself enough to mock again, though he still couldn't quite reach his haughty bravado again.

"Be fair, I'm sure Dawlish is good at what he does against anyone else," Remus rebuked.

James burst out with such exuberant laughter it made Lily jump and the baby screech with just as loud as the noise. He couldn't help it though, the confidence was well earned for the man...but

even they had never speculated such an instance as this occurring! Dumbledore was, well not being arrested, but someone actually thought they could do so!

All five of them reclined in their seats. Suddenly this wasn't funny anymore, but much more a smack in the face saying they should be fearing for their lives.

"Oh dear," Lily managed to utter one more time with pure worry of what Dumbledore was going to do to them before Harry told breathlessly.

"That was much less dramatic than I thought Dumbledore would go for," James rubbed at his jaw.

"You weren't there," Harry shook his head as if still getting the flashes of light out of his eyes, while one hand creeped up to his neck in remembrance. "It was plenty fantastic from where I

stood."

"What even happened?" Lily cocked her head to the side. "A dark figure fell to the ground, I'm guessing that was Kingsley, a shriek and a thud, someone else got knocked out, somebody cried

no, but then..." she trailed off as she tried to picture it.

"I think he may have put a spell on someone to stumble around, they fell into whatever it was that broke and so they had to scuffle a bit, but then they groaned and fell as well," Harry tried to explain through the clouded dust of memories.

"That's only three though," James disagreed.

"Someone might have gone out with the first shot of light," Harry offered.

"I just, I still can't believe," Remus wasn't coming out of his shock any time soon it seemed. "Dumbledore, he-"

"It's okay Moony," Sirius gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder. The problem though was that he had no more to say on it, he couldn't have imagined how this had gone so far, let alone to reverse it enough Dumbledore would come back.

Lily hummed with approval for that, she could understand that even when McGonagall had been told to stay out of the fight, there was no way the woman would remain on the sidelines.

"I'm sure he'll forgive you," James managed to say with a genuine smile, like this was all part of some normal conversation.

"Oh, my, goodness," Remus mouthed the words.

Sirius was still patting his shoulder as he watched Harry go on with some deep emotion he still couldn't name. It wasn't quite smugness at this happening to Dumbledore as well as him, but also

some genuine worry for this future. As if it hadn't been hellish before, now it seemed a literal nightmare.

"Well, I was wanting some company," Sirius muttered. If there was one person he would have called least likely to be a wanted criminal in this future aside from himself, it was Dumbledore.

"I can imagine," James nodded vigorously.

"That is not something to apologize for," Lily said at once, snapping to anything she could have something intelligible to say. "If he could encourage you to go after that stupid Stone, I'm positive he's been helping you out with this as well in ways we can't even guess."

"That's his final word of advice!" Remus did finally come back, now as ruffled at the man himself as the situation. "If he ever did address it I would have hoped he'd offer an alternative! Surely he can't be so stubborn not to realize this isn't working."

"Clearly not," Harry sighed, wishing more every day this would just quit being mentioned. He still had no feelings he would ever succeed at this, and it only ever led to darker parts of his mind for what that could mean.

Harry released a shuddering breath, he could still feel the echo of it now, trying to build up inside of him and emerge from a long gone part of him that he had no want to revisit. If it wasn't for those around him, if he'd truly gone through with it and tried to run when he'd been thinking, he could never have kept going on his own for fear it may come back. Now though, after forcing his eyes to remain focused on those around him, as afraid as him, but not an ounce of fear of him, he found it in himself to keep going.

"It sure doesn't feel like it," Sirius commiserated with that look on Harry's face. He was frustrated just hearing about it all, he couldn't imagine how Harry could remain sane having to live through it.

"Wow," James blinked in surprise. "I didn't know he could take people with him when he does that."

Remus simply nodded, clearly not back to himself enough to elaborate on the ability, too much was going on now for Dumbledore and Harry.

"That is actually a very good question," Lily shook her head, she had a hard time imagining him anywhere besides his oak desk.

"You fear wrong," Remus said in no uncertain terms.

"I knew they couldn't be all bad," Sirius managed to get one last smirk in while he was thinking of it, "those were probably the ones pretending to be me."

"Thank you for that unhelpful input Padfoot," Remus rolled his eyes for his friend, if anything could keep his attention it was him.

Harry inhaled again slowly, taking a moment just to savor those words. He wasn't expelled, Dumbledore's plan had worked, but at what cost?

"Ha!" Sirius released a sharp bark of laughter that seemed to echo in the still stunned stupid room. "Would you look at that, I actually agree with him for once."

"Miracles happen all the time apparently," Remus shook his head as Harry passed him the book. 'Not all of them good,' he finished in his head, still gazing awestruck at Dumbledore's departure.

HPHPHPHP

I never get tired of that quote, one of the best things the movie kept in, even given to Kingsley instead.

* I know it's never referenced in book, but since Care of Creatures is held with another House, I picture all the other electives did as well, and I always picture Ravenclaws in the background of all Trelawney's lessons.

**I actually wonder if JK put that in there by accident or something, the diary would have been a better mocking reference.

***So everyone always agrees Umbridge is the worst character ever conceived, but I'm curious what you guys consider her worst ever moment, or at least when you knew you irredeemably hated her? Harry, as the main character, I was disgusted at what she did to him, but on her evil level I at least understood it, as well as everyone else who crossed her. However, she attacked Marietta after the girl had helped her. This clearly is the kind of person Umbridge really is.


	28. SNAPE'S WORST MEMORY

This is the one chapter where I really wanted to do chapter titles, because it doesn't actually give the chapter away, but it's something that's never stated explicitly in the story as Snape's worst memory. All they'll ever know was it's a memory he didn't want Harry to see, and yeah he'll find out in the last book it was a cataclysm that happened between him and Lily, but they'll never know it was his worst. Sigh, oh well, I couldn't justify all the spoilers for every other chapter for this one no matter how much I would have loved writing a response from Lily about this particular chapter title.

To DepressedTiger: You're poems are beautiful and always give me the chills!

To Inspired Girl: Stop! I don't know how to handle compliments! I just sit there like a gaping fish because thank you isn't enough for what's being dished out! Flattery is a sin and you've mastered it! ...Okay, I'm calmer now. I keep to my schedule through much dedication and having spent many, many, years fantasizing these characters in my head before I sat down to do this, so I knew what I wanted for them going in. Also I'm a stubborn little shit who has to finish something once I start it. If I was ever forcibly stopped by some unseen force like the Apocalypse happening, I'm entirely sure I'd actually explode because I never got to finish. As for your question, honestly, I still don't. I never switched to honestly feeling anything other than vindictive 'I want to punch him in the face' syndrome for this guy. I never transgressed into the wondering realization he's a good person just because he loved someone. Yes he had a hard life, yes he sacrificed it to protect someone else, but I'm sorry, it does not make up for the countless things he does to children. Call it a cover, call it whatever you like, I don't condone it. Sorry if that disappoints you or you at all disagree, feel free to argue back as I do love differences of opinion and will never scorn anyone for thinking otherwise. At least know I will never put such things into the fic, verbatim anyways, because Harry clearly thinks differently, and this is his story. Like with all other characters who people have different opinions about, all sides will be shown, even Snapes.

To Mason b: Congratulations on spending so much time on this sight you've figured out the buttons! Especially thank you for the review, it means a lot knowing you've been following for so long!

To WizardingWhovian: Thanks for the longish review :)

HPHPHPHP

Remus glanced at the clock and saw it was getting close to lunchtime, but he decided to keep going now with even the slimmest of hopes Dumbledore would make some miraculous return. He just couldn't imagine it, Hogwarts without Dumbledore?! Even in second year the idea had trouble him, and the Ministry had caused that one as well, admittedly through Malfoy instead of Fudge, but how on Earth did this keep happening? He forced himself to remember it wasn't right now, Dumbledore was up at the school this moment helping them fight off Voldemort for now, so he had to remain focused on that to began, and immediately regretted it.

"Oh not another one!" James demanded, though at some point he really should have stopped being so surprised.

"That's not even, the Ministry can't-" Remus spluttered. The Ministry decreeing teachers at the school was mind blowing enough, but now apparently they could just assign headmasters to the school! What next, they were going to start put wizards behind the desk at Gringotts?

"I can not imagine this," Sirius groaned in disgust. "That, that kitten stalker behind Dumbledore's desk, and now with total control of the school! Is there anything she can't get away with doing now?"

Lily felt almost petrified for the students well being, she almost couldn't breath for a moment at the thought of what all she could get away with now in regards to those detentions.

"Percy wasn't there when that happened," James corrected. "He'd left before Dumbledore started the fight."

"I'm surprised the school wasn't adding in a whole Auror department to the list, so I didn't correct them," Harry shrugged.

"I wish," Sirius grumbled.

"How did they know everything?" Harry asked bemusedly.

"The portraits," all four at once reminded him.

"There's nothing new," Harry sighed.

"Ha!" Sirius' bark of triumphant laughter was heavily echoed by all of them. It wasn't nearly what the cat barf was owed, but for the smallest moment, they got to enjoy her misery instead of the

other way around.

"Yes, yes she does," Sirius protested of whoever had interrupted something nice for a change.

"Why am I not surprised," James muttered as he buried his face in his hands, somehow knowing this was only about to get worse with that albino reject involved.

"Prefects can't take points away from other houses," Remus scoffed.

"I'm sure he's just already been promised Head Boy and was practicing," James rolled his eyes.

"I wonder how many times he's had to be reminded of that when trying to bully little first year Gryffindors," Sirius scowled.

"Actually sometimes I forgot," Harry muttered. After the initial shock, Ron had never made much of a show of it except for a few occasions.

"Clever," Remus sneered with exaggerated sarcasm.

"The what?" Remus was interrupted by all four of them, which he found internally unnecessary as he'd been wondering the exact same thing.

"I'm going to cry," Sirius vowed. "I, this, how do they keep managing to make shit up as they go along!"

"I never would have believed the school could turn into something so," James trailed off, without words for how different this place had become from his memory.

"That just, completely undermines the whole system," Lily rubbed furiously at her forehead, thinking Fudge should be done with it already and rename Hogwarts 'The pre-Ministry of Magic.'

Harry's eyes had narrowed with every insult Malfoy had given, even after all these years he still managed to find ways to be the most insufferable person in that castle, his only saving grace was he wasn't as bad as Snape and Umbridge, yet.

"Just take a round hundred why don't you, it'll be faster!" Sirius felt like his eyes were going to pop out of his head if he rolled them any harder.

"Nice to know he forgets sometimes," Remus said testily, "I certainly never fail to forget how much of an arse he is."

"Is she off her rocker?" Lily snarled. "I'd have cursed him at the start of this already."

"Trust me, none of us would have stopped you," James growled.

"I wish I'd thought that for even a second," James shook his head, but he'd long since stopped questioning the depths that woman would go.

Lily looked about ready to pull her hair out in frustration. She couldn't believe such blatant favoritism could continue, the system had been slightly off kilter before and now it was just

rampant.

"What does he mean, tried?" Sirius eagerly demanded.

Sirius was so giddy to hear any bout of revenge, he didn't even bother to gloat he'd just mimicked Ron.

All five of them burst out with laughter for this, Harry's feeling a little more forced than he understood why.

"Did they ever?" Lily rolled her eyes.

"Never been expelled were they," James defended. "Clearly they had some restraint."

Lily wasn't sure how he was able to say that as if it were actually a good thing.

Without looking up, Remus reached over and put his hand against Sirius' mouth so he could keep going very loudly. Sirius waited impatiently until his hand got tired and he removed it before

bursting out anyways, "Lily and James mimicked them!"

"Thank you Blackie, I hadn't noticed," James said blandly, while Sirius crinkled his face in disgust for that nickname.

"Shut up Comet," Sirius snapped back.*

"Honestly, I'm not quite sure why," Remus mock pouted.

"I know I wouldn't have the restraint with the year I've been hearing about," Sirius agreed.

"I love them!" James declared. "Lily, we need to have twins."

Lily smacked him upside the head even while she was repressing giggles.

"I recall a conversation where they don't care," Sirius said eagerly, wondering how on Earth this could be Hermione's first thought.

James was still bouncing in his seat like an excited toddler, glee and eagerness to hear what he'd been expecting from the pair of them ever since Umbridge had kicked his son off the Quidditch

team. He had no clue what they'd been doing in the meantime, but her surmised that the change may well have been they'd finally gotten premises for whenever their shop was to be. Glory this

was going to be worth the wait, of that he was confident.

"I'd fear for my life if I were Umbridge," Remus' grin was stretching into one Harry had grown to associate with a Marauder story.

"She hasn't the sense, and I'm almost glad for it," Sirius corrected with the same look in place.

"I forgot he was there," Lily snickered. "I wonder how well he knew the twins before this to have such a reaction?"

"Clearly quite well, as he knew to make a run for it," Harry said with a smirk.

James clucked his tongue at Hermione, Dumbledore couldn't have dragged him away from watching this.

All three boys groaned loudly in agitation, they would have paid anything to get front row seats for whatever the twins had planned, and their boy was walking away from it!

Harry hardly looked upset at their reaction, he was vividly remembering already that they wouldn't have long to wait for details.

"Filch is best viewed not at all," Sirius corrected while all of them frowned for what this news could be for. Filch did not single out students for good reasons.

"Don't call Dumbledore a woman," James rolled his eyes.

Lily busted out laughing loudly at the look of chagrin on Harry's face and the three boys affronted look their boy was such a terrible on the spot liar. It hurt their soul.

"Don't do it Harry," Sirius said at once.

"And what, run the other way and get in more trouble?" Harry demanded.

"Great, now I'm starting to fear for your life," Remus groaned.

"At least I have the sense to agree," Harry sighed.

"We've noticed," James said harshly, it had been disturbing him for quite some time.

"Oh good, I thought it had just been us," Sirius tried for a happy snicker, though it was clear how distracted he was he hadn't realized this had been said twice.

"And your idea of correcting that was medival torture," Remus pleasantly reminded. "I'm sure he can understand why normal teachers methods are better."

Lily blanched in horror while the boys smiled grimly. They just couldn't believe Filch would ever go through with it, considering how often he'd threatened this and he'd always been laughed off.

"Why doesn't he ever just go for the Heretic fork, that's a grand old torture," Sirius offered in what he was sure was a helpful tone of voice.

"I don't even want to know what that is," Lily shook her head.

"If he ever goes through with that, I'll give the man his own award," Remus snickered with a bit of an edge, implying it wasn't a trophy kind.

"They're going to blow up that castle trying," James said conversationally.

"Hopefully the twins stick around long enough at least see that," Remus said without concern.

"While that's true," Sirius sighed, "I still can't find him anymore of a credible threat than his cat. Timing is key in avoidance of him."

"I'd be very pleased if you stopped reminding me of that," Lily hissed, though it wouldn't actually help, as that was ingrained into her being as much as the back of his hand.

Remus adopted quite a cruel smirk for that was all she could claim, a useless block of wood. The school would never follow her.

Lily raised a brow and stated, "a bit overkill," while James and Sirius looked physically pained at the thought.

"I stopped wondering that and now just dread it," Remus grumbled.

"Don't do it Harry," James said at once.

"It's probably poisoned," Sirius agreed grimly.

"I just wouldn't accept anything from her on principle," Remus crinkled his nose at the thought, all of them wondering at what she hoped to accomplish by the sudden nicety.

"The most fast acting poison you have," Lily muttered.

"I'm starting to think that wasn't a joke," Lily told Sirius.

"I never meant it as one," Sirius agreed.

The look on Harry's face was clearly strained, and they could all understand why at having to play niceties at this. The real problem was they couldn't put their finger down on why she was doing this.

James mouth popped open with outrage. "You mean you actually were going to take a sip before you saw that?"

"But I didn't," Harry protested, starting to rub in agitation at his forehead, somehow knowing he'd be quite grateful for this, though not a clue as to why, she hadn't really poisoned that had she?

"At least Mad-Eye left a good impression, even the fake one," Sirius grumbled.

Lily was getting a worse feeling by the second, and she hadn't thought it could be possible,considering his company. "Why does she think you'd know that?"

"No clue," Harry sighed, as always wishing he had a better answer for them.

James kept shifting his weight with heavy unease, wishing she'd stop with the farce of politeness in this drink already, though perhaps that's the only way to be nice she knew, the fake kind. All he really wanted to do was transform her into a teapot and shatter the pieces already.

Remus choked hard, he couldn't even get his full name out, but he didn't need to, it was clear they'd understood.

"No," James hissed, looking nearly faint.

"No, she can't have, there's no way she knew that was you!" Lily protested. "I, you, you've actually been really careful, and smart, and..." she trailed off, because her words gave her no

comfort, and it was clear they were going straight past the others.

"Okay, okay," Harry practically yelled to keep their attention before they had an utter panic attack to rival the one screaming in his head. "She dosen't know where he is, that's why she's asking!"

"But why!" Remus snarled, his eyes glued to the words, ignoring how hard it was becoming to breath from the mounting fear. "She shouldn't have any clue what you know about him, as far as

they're concerned he's still after you!"

"Something's changed," Sirius said slowly, and honestly the scariest part to all of them was how hard Sirius was clearly trying to keep up his usual calm in regards to this. "The only thing I can think of was that Azkaban break. Despite their stupid story they published, they realized something wasn't right, and they're trying to find some alternative. The only one they've got is what Dumbledore offered, so if they believe I was out trying to help Harry..." he trailed off with a miserable shake to his head. He had no hope that this change would help him at all, they'd still do everything in their power to bury all this even while looking for someone to blame.

Remus was not comforted, none of them were. It terrified him to keep going, to know what else Umbridge had called Harry up there to ask, though what in her sugar frosted mind made her think

he'd answer was beyond him. Most likely she was just looking for a tell, some way to show he was lying to throw him back in detention.

James couldn't help his high pitched keening noise. Harry was a terrible liar, they'd well established this, so if Umbridge had any uncertainties before, she'd know now Harry did know

something.

Harry recognized that look, and flinched with guilt. He could feel tears stinging his eyes in frustration that he couldn't do Sirius any help, that somehow he was in fact going to make this all worse for his Godfather.

Harry made much the same noise James just had in distress. Remus gave him a sympathetic look for all the wrong reasons, but all they could think of was how upset Harry was he'd be going the

rest of the year without talking to Sirius, something none of them had ever to to do.

"Thank you," Sirius nodded solemnly. "I really wanted her to be cut off."

James had to think hard past his unending worries regarding his brother to recall where or why this noise would be made, and had never yet been more grateful for the twins.

"I'm sure that saved your life," Remus shook his head, they still hadn't ruled out that drink being deadly.

"Well Harry certainly has an alibi now," Lily muttered.

"I'd be disappointed if it was," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Flitwick?" James offered helpfully.

"No, no, Crookshanks must have set something off," Sirius said blandly.

"You're both ridiculous," Remus told them fondly, "obviously it was Ginny."

Harry found a smile somewhere in him for their antics. He couldn't help it, they never ceased to be able to do that no matter how heavy his mind got.

"Moony," Sirius pouted, "why do you always get the best parts."

Remus scowled at him, honestly thinking that heart failure over what Umbridge could know had hardly been worth discovering whatever the twins were up to, but merely smacked him upside the

head in response.

The others had been far too enraptured listening to such descriptions to dare interrupt, but now that it was clear their details had been shut off for now, they still couldn't quite force words of wonder from their mouths, they were actually stunned stupid by something so spectacular occurring in

their old hallways.

"The, twins, managed..." Remus traield off there, words weren't good enough to cover this fantastic feat.

"These are the best kids ever!" Sirius shouted, his vivid imagination nearly not enough to cover this.

"I don't care what we do, we have to make sure at least this is managed again," James stated in no uncertain terms.

Lily was too busy giggling in agreement to add in.

"I'm not surprised she blames her actions on others," Lily managed to get less hatefully than normal considering she was still laughing.

"No, but I'd like to see him try," Sirius said with enthusiasm.

"Probably his most brilliant idea ever," Remus cackled.

"They've far more restraint than I would have thought," Lily managed while her shoulders still shook. "I would have expected them to proudly be standing under them."

"No sense when everyone will know who did it, but then you can't prove it," James corrected.

"Well I should hope not," James couldn't stop smirking. "A little healthy competition is good for them."

Impossibly, fresh and renewed laughter began again in here, now they were all wondering the ways these things could get better the more magic you tried to use on them.

"Because we have the best staff ever," Harry managed in between roaring with laughter.

"I miss McGonagall," Remus wheezed out.

"But of course not," Sirius widened his eyes with mock concern despite a few tears still pouring out of them. "We have no idea what kind of magic is behind these, who knows whose subject

they relate to," which only managed to fill the room with even more laughter.

Lily nearly fell off the couch in utter hysterics, her infant laughing loudly along the only restraint holding her together.

"Wait, wait," James insisted with a rewind motion, and continued with the most important question yet, "did she buy some?"

Harry just blinked innocently without response.

"I knew it!" Sirius pumped his fist in triumph. "I knew that one had to have more fun in her life than we'd been led to believe."

"I'm so proud," James didn't even have to fake rubbing tears from his face.

"Only took her group getting disbanded to admit it," Harry chuckled.

"Though how she went from an illegal study group to not doing homework as rebellious is beyond me," Sirius said only semi-intelligible from laughing so hard.

Harry was starting to get worried none of them had stopped laughing for so long, surely they were all going to run out of air soon, and yet none of them could seem to care. This was far too brilliant and a perfect shot of relief after all the stress they'd been dealing with of late.

"Probably furious," Sirius said with chipper.

"I can only hope it gets worse," Remus insisted with a grin, though he was flabbergasted how after that display.

"Oh I'm sure he'll find some way to cover it up, that's what he's best at," James rolled his eyes.

The smiles slipped right off all of their faces like Snape had just appeared into the room. It felt impossible it should happen so fast, but the reminder of this dream and how deep Harry kept

going just couldn't feel any good for them as it only reminded them of Voldemort's unexplained connection, and obsession with this place.

Remus released a sharp breath, he didn't want to keep going, to find out how far Voldemort had gone inside this place. Whatever Voldemort was after it wasn't a good thing, couldn't those

fireworks just wake Harry up again already.

Remus finally sighed in relief, shaking slightly from failed adrenalin in the face of coming within arms reach of this mysterious whatever it was. He glanced up at the others, to see if they had any idea of what to make of that new information, when he saw Harry in a right state.

His face was screwed up tight, once tears of mirth now clearly were burning out from something far more unbearable. It was heartbreaking, to watch him flip so drastically all because his mind was forced to live through so many things at one time, things he couldn't even put into words without fearing something far worse happening than just pain.

Lily was trying to surge forward even still cradling her infant, but James beat her to the punch, trying to make his sitting on the edge of the couch casual even as he hovered over Harry in pure agitation he couldn't be of more help than this.

They all wanted to do more, say something for him, but he seemed paralyzed with pain, and Remus would do anything to help him, and so he did the only thing he could think of.

"No, no it isn't," James grumbled petulantly as he continued to rub at Harry's back.

Remus agreed, having to fight hard to keep his attention on the book.

It took an extra moment for them to real back and remember what they'd just been laughing so hard about, and Harry wished he could feel more regret for ruining their moment of fun instead of

always being the source of a problem with his blasted mind.

Harry forced out a laugh that sounded nothing but hollow to everyone, even his own ears. He almost longed for that feeling now, it would be better than the wash of other things he kept feeling as a constant mention of that place continued to make him sick with worry.

Lily opened and closed her mouth in fasciation, longing to just go back and marvel at the twins magic with these things, and yet never having been less interested in magic as her child fought to

retain any sense of normality.

"Oh boy," Sirius grumbled distastefully, while Harry somehow manage to look all the more worried about that.

"Can't even blame you," James shook his head pitifully for everything Harry went through on a daily basis, how Dumbledore, Snape, or anyone expected Harry to empty his mind of all that was daily basis, how Dumbledore, Snape, or anyone expected Harry to empty his mind of all that was beyond him.

"Honestly understandable," Remus sighed, his heavy eyes hadn't really gained much back with so many sleepless nights in a row from here, he could imagine it being just as bad in the months for Harry with longer to dread on these things than they gave themselves.

Lily made a deep throated noise of agitation, entirely not looking forward to what Snape was going to say to him about this.

"Well I could have warned you of that," Sirius tried for a smile that still felt forced. They'd gone from roaring laughter to sickened with worry about Harry in the span of a second, and now

nothing was being helped by the tense set up of another bout of Snape insults directed at Harry.

All five of them made a small little noise of agitation, even at something so small still so pestering as that blasted made up group of Malfoy's.

All of them felt a vindictive laugh somewhere inside themselves for that, Hermione really was something special.

James blinked in surprise, and just a little admiration for Cho still standing by her friend like that. He of course wanted to add a few more curses to Marietta for what she'd done to Harry, but Cho had just earned herself a few points.

"I still wish I had some sort of motive for her doing that," Remus scowled.

"Not one good enough to excuse it," Sirius scoffed.

James and Lily frowned slightly, knowing they more than likely would have defended their friends if they'd done the same thing, but then again, they just couldn't imagine their friends doing

this. Cho probably hadn't either, and it really was good of her still sticking with her through that.

"Thanks to Dumbledore," Remus shook his head slowly, he still wasn't quite sure how to wrap his mind around all of that.

"I haven't forgotten," Sirius said in disgust with a slight shiver. Miss Edgecombe had nearly been the death of him, he wasn't likely to forget that.

"Nah," James smirked, honestly considering this Hermione's best move yet, even trumping what she'd done to Skeeter.

"Well if she'd done that than hardly anyone would have signed it." Lily rolled her eyes.

"She could have told them all after the fact," Remus offered with a grin.

"Nah, this was much more fun, the person couldn't consider their consequences before they made the crappy decision," Sirius decided.

"Harry, you do know that does not actually prevent anyone from crying?" Sirius asked him in concern.

Harry just huffed, he really hadn't been expecting this fight with Cho, but somehow was relieved for it to finally have happened all the same. However pretty she still was in his memories, her flat refusal to acknowledge the stupid thing her friend had done had finally driven out any feelings he had for her.

"Well, I think that's done with," James gazed at the book with some pity for Harry's first crush having so many disasters back to back.

"The wrong sparks did fly," Remus agreed with a sad little smile.

Harry just clucked his tongue, still not as angry now as he was then, far more concerned with other things in his mind he couldn't reach, and that cemented it for the lot of them. Harry clearly didn't seem to care all that much for his relationship with Cho just evaporating.

"You're one of those who always comes up with the comebacks after the fact," James told Harry pleasantly.

"I premake up most of mine and wait for the situation," Sirius smirked.

"Suppose that leaves more room for you to follow the conversation," Lily snipped at him.

"Just what does he keep in that?" Remus rolled his eyes.

Harry twitched hard in unease, he had a bad feeling he was about to find out, but it mostly went unnoticed as they all thought he was just preparing himself for another lash of Occlumency.

"I'm surprised that hasn't happened before now," James rolled his eyes, "him barging in there to tattle on some first year Slytherin taking his favorite chair."

"What a sight to walk in on though," Remus raised a curious brow, he'd certainly pause at this with some concern.

Remus rolled his eyes, finding Snape referring to Malfoy by his first name really showed the depths to the two's relationship. The teachers should always refer to the student by last name out

of sheer habit. He found this proof that Snape had a more familiar relationship with Malfoy, as if he'd needed it before now.

"With their wands pointed at each other," Sirius emphasized. "If that wasn't a dumb enough excuse before, it gets worse every time."

"And I know how much you long to see that expression," Lily scowled.

"Why?" All four of them demanded of him.

"To make that stupid look disappear," Harry told them like he thought they were being very stupid on purpose.

"That's the response I was expecting," James nodded, feeling the world back on balance.

"She's already tried to poison one student this week, I don't see how he could help with that," Sirius rolled his eyes.

Lily wanted to be more furious that Snape was in Umbridge's good graces like this, but then again, it was all the more sad she wasn't surprised considering how much the two seemed so alike.

Sirius spluttered like he had a broken jaw.

"They did that how long ago?" Remus interpreted. "I think that's a new record."

"Ours only lasted a day, tops," James pouted.

"What even is that thing?" Harry demanded, quite sure his level of unease with this thing had nothing to do with the Slytherin Quidditch captains fait.

"You shove people in it, and they vanish," Sirius came back enough to helpfully explain.

Remus rolled his eyes at his inept friend and more properly said, "I'm sure you remember as vividly as we do that Nick broke one above Filch's office in your second year."

Harry nodded eagerly, he was still wondering what about that felt so significant. "Well there's matching pairs, always are. The one on the first floor the twins used is probably the still functioning one, but without the other to go through, it'll just leave you in limbo until it finds an opening to pop you out, but the magic is very vague about it all, and we have no clue what it's indications were when this would happen."

"It was pure need to understand such magic that we kept testing it," James offered with an impish smirk.

Remus' mouth was twitching in much the same way as he watched Harry curiously to see if he'd gotten it.

Harry wanted to smile back, but his mind felt torn in two. He still wanted to ask more about these things, but something about the Marauders and that look on their face...it was all fun now, but he had a feeling it bothered him for some reason soon.

He tried tentatively to understand all of this by asking slowly, "so, when you lot, err-"

"Put someone in cause they annoyed us," Sirius offered helpfully.

"Right," Harry paused to roll his eyes, "it just pushed the person out the other one?"

"We had to disable it for our needs to work," James eyes widened innocently. "It was no fun if they just reappeared."

"We put it back together when we were done though," Remus still couldn't wipe a smirk away. "Couldn't have the teachers knowing we were messing with it."

"Never as badly as what Nick did though," Sirius was still laughing heavily, "so Merlin knows if they even are fixable now."

"Let me get this straight," Lily said dangerously. "You shoved people into a magical item, you had no clue what it would do to them, and then you continued to further break it apart to see what else would happen to them?"

"It happened to me first," Remus offered in defense of them. "Some Hufflepuff James had gotten last week shoved me into one for revenge, I made a reappearance a day later."

"It sort of just spiraled out from there," Sirius agreed.

Lily had spent the entire conversation frowning heavily at the lot of them, she'd never enjoyed hearing about their blatant ways of dealing with people that annoyed them. It was nice to see

Harry wasn't exactly amused by this, but he was also clearly distracted by something so she wasn't sure how much he'd been paying attention past their actual words.

Absolutely none of Harry's thoughts had been helped by them, now not only was he positive something of these things should not be laughed at, but his lesson with Snape was feeling more foreboding than ever. He still nodded at Remus to indicate he was done for now.

James and Sirius roared with laughter, Remus trying hard to hide his own amusement behind the book and failing a bit.

"That's going to bite him in the arse later," Lily tisked loudly, though it hardly did anything to dampen the boys new found amusement. They'd gotten to hear the end results of yet another

prank from the twins and had Snape's stupid lesson pushed off for a moment longer, they were now jovial, and hoped their mood would help Harry out of whatever funk his mind was clearly still stuck in.

"There's the bright side," Lily persisted in pointing out, though clearly being ignored by all.

"I'm surprised Smith hadn't done that already," Sirius rolled his eyes.

All five of them shivered heavily at the reminder, Harry looked ready to fall off the couch every time this was mentioned.

"So quickly run from the room, otherwise you might see him again when you've so graciously been deprived of that," James said enthusiastically, he really hadn't a care for what could be in

there.

"Oh Harry," Lily sighed in exhaustion, wanting to press her face into her hands already as she felt where this was going. "Did you learn nothing from your lesson in Dumbledore's Pensive?"

Harry did not answer, though considering the feelings pumping through him, he was confident he hadn't thought that far ahead.

"I wouldn't honestly be that surprised," Remus agreed, "but you've no idea how to work that thing, so you'll just be plunged into the last thing he was thinking of when he put memories in

there."

"Though that may honestly be it," Sirius said with a calmer tone creeping in Remus instantly regretted. "He wasn't hiding away private memories from his childhood, those were still in his

head when Harry went in. Maybe it is Order business he's more worried about. If Harry wants to find out about them, this is the place I'd look."

"You're encouraging this," Lily yelped furiously. "Show some privacy!"

"He's not showing Harry any," James rolled his eyes, instantly tagging along to Sirius' side. Though he did raise his hands in surrender upon Lily's flashing eyes. "I wish he wouldn't, he has

no way to get himself out of the memory, only Snape can do that, but I'm sick of him never being told anything and I know you are to."

Lily scowled heavily at the both of them as she didn't find that the point.

"The time frame is irrelevant," Remus scolded. "You weren't the one to put those memories in, so you can't pull yourself out until you've seen them all. Could be days worth of storage in there."

Harry wished he'd known that, but again, he now knew he hadn't thought that far ahead, and he had a bad feeling he'd soon regret it.

"Not at all what I was hoping for," Sirius sighed, he'd honestly been hoping for Dumbledore's office, or even Grimmauld places basement, something he'd been hoping for in relevance to

something Snape was up to. An image of Voldemort, Snape talking to some member of the Order, anything other than what the man had for breakfast. There was no way something interesting to

them happened in there, he'd probably just been admiring Umbridge's technique of making children cry.

"There you have it," Remus sighed without surprise. "Harry's a dead man."

"So he is some new kind of ghost," Sirius chuckled while prodding at Harry. "Fascinating, can I name him?"

"No," all four of them said at once.

"Huh?" James looked floored at this start, why would something of Snape's school years be so precious to hide away?

"I know exams are close so they'd be on his mind, but this is ridiculous," Sirius rolled his eyes and yawned already out of sheer boredom.

Remus kept going blandly, and some disappointment. Harry was going to be in the worst amount of trouble yet, and apparently he wasn't even going to get to see anything good out of it.

Though James did smirk a bit Harry may get a glimpse of him, he was sure his son would at least get a kick out of that.

Lily scoffed heavily and rolled her eyes, finding too much of his father's influence in that description. She'd always thought of him as a sickly pale, thin hair a silky black, admittedly too

thin but still with a smile that drew her in to know what he was thinking. She supposed it was all in the eye of the beholder, as that was still how she'd describe him at fifteen. Picturing him now as the hateful man tormenting her son and his classmates, she may well have called him many of the same things Harry just had.

"Uhoh," James hummed in concern, suddenly hurrying back to his Lily Flowers side, he hadn't expected it to be this exact OWL.

Lily felt a burning in the back of her eyes at once, this was her worst childhood memory. Far worse than anything Petunia had ever said to her as a child. Of all the things Snape would keep

stored away, she could almost understand why he'd want to keep this one in particular away from Harry. Shame she would hope, for utterly humiliating her that day, though she was sure it was

something far more related to his own status, just like always, considering the events having led up to that.

Harry watched his parents with wide eyed concern for this reaction, looking to the other two for some sort of explanation he could already feel he wasn't going to like, but they were avoiding his eye. This really had been just any other day to them, but for Lily, well this was still something she should have shared with Harry, what a way for the poor kid to find out.

Remus waited until Lily snapped at him to keep going before he could do this to her, though it hardly felt better with permission.

James sighed, not exactly thrilled he'd gotten his wish. He hadn't nearly paid Snape back in kind for what he'd called the love of his life that day, still, he hoped Harry at least enjoyed his attempts.

"That is a very good description for the pair," Remus muttered mostly to himself.

"You weren't wearing your glasses," Harry noted, grinning wildly at finally having such a vivid memory of his dad at such a young age.

"They're only reading glasses, I only use them for long periods, or something important," James shrugged. "The exams weren't long enough I bothered."

Sirius snorted mirthlessly and gave James a very superior smirk, telling without a hint of remorse, "I knew I loved your kid. He only called you a thin, messy git. At least he acknowledges who the handsome one is."

James gave him a very heavy glare, even while fighting back a grin for his best friends endless teasing.

Sirius' grin only widened, turing outright flippant, and Harry was quite sure he was going to be given an account of this girl and all sorts of details he never would have asked for, but Remus had not paused long enough to be of help, to Harry's relief.

"It was that Monday, actually," Remus mumbled.

Harry blinked in surprise. Not only did it wrench at him for Remus to know so explicitly when each was, meaning they must all stand out very clearly in his mind and that only emphasized how

painful each must be, but even after a few days rest Remus was only just starting to look healthier. In the days leading up he'd grown quite pale and exhausted at all hours, he couldn't imagine

having to study ontop of all that.

Remus flinched hard at the reminder, not even needing to glance up and see the others as well. Harry had never actually known him as more than the traitor, but it was still impossible for them to

think back on nearly any memory from their time here without finding him as well. Now they were being force fed one! Snape's memory had just turned into the worst thing for all of them.

Sirius' features were twisted violently, he still felt that need pulsing through him at every small reminder of him to go and rip his head off. The forcible act of not being able to respond to this made him feel like he was on fire just sitting here instead. He'd learned his lesson, he'd just have to be patient...

Lily fidgeted with a few strands of hair in unease while eyeing James, who wasn't even blushing at the reminder. The unease came from that very sharp hurt her son hadn't known her maiden

name, or at least, hadn't put together what it would mean. Instead she sighed heavily and flippantly told him, "I suppose it's better than L. P."

James offered her a wide grin for the tone, wanting to hold her even closer than he was for her still taking shots at him rather than dwelling on this particular memory from her past.

"It literally just said Flitwick summoned all the papers to him," Harry scratched at his head in

confusion.

"You mark your final answers on the exam," Sirius explained, "Prongs was still messing with his scratch paper."

"Couldn't students still know what to expect on the exam then?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Nope, the exam changes every year," Remus sighed.

"I always had to walk over to his arse," Sirius said with an exaggerated eye roll. "If I wasn't the one to meet him, he'd pop me on the head for making him walk."

"Hark, look who's getting memory problems of his own," James tisked. "If I walked up to you, you'd groan about me making you wait around, at least if I waited long enough you'd get bored

and come to me."

"They are actually arguing about who walked over to whom the most," Remus informed the other two like they'd miss this.

"I'm aware," Lily shook her head in exasperation, "I'm waiting for you to cut them off already."

Remus hadn't just because he enjoyed watching them pick at each other so much, especially with memory of the one who was missing hovering right there in front of them, but he supposed he

couldn't ignore it forever and instead kept going in hopes Harry would blot him from sight.

James snorted enthusiastically Harry so easily caught onto one of their favorite jokes of referring to him as a bug in every way.

Remus twitched again in agitation, though it was slightly less so than moments before. He supposed that being referred to by his last name was still better than not having been mentioned at

all like the other one, though he still had to remind himself it was his own fault Harry hadn't a reason to call him anything else.

Lily felt a surprised giggle crack out of her before she could stop it.

"Ha!" Sirius barked in triumph. "See Prongs, told you you should have let Moony try some humor around her, she clearly doesn't partake to yours."

"And have the love of my life swoon over his brilliance," James insisted on looking mock affronted while he played along. "I'd rather kill them both."

"It's a wonder I didn't fall into your arms sooner," she told him drolly.

All five of them were turning an ugly gray color for having to see this, to relive it and be forced to once again come to terms with how close they all were, saying anything and everything to each other as they'd always done, when did that change for him?

"True," James tried in vain to keep the strain from his voice, failing miserably. "You'd be dragged along." His voice cracked at the end, he couldn't pretend to keep going, and was starting to more than pity Remus at having to be forced to read all this.

Clearly Harry was as well, whispering, "did you want me to-"

"No," he snapped without looking up. "May as well get on with it, not like he's actually doing anything." Except ruining more memories from his past, his biting innards were now constantly

reminding, but they were all feeling the same way, it would help nothing for Harry to do this instead.

"And did you?" Harry couldn't help but ask, infusing as much mirth into his voice as was possible.

Sirius watched Harry for a long moment with a set look in place that was all the answer he needed before he finally admitted, "no, got an E."

"We did though," James tipped his head towards Remus with a purposeful grin that didn't completely hide the hard set in his eyes. "Gave him hell for it."

"He probably missed one too many questions about harpies, getting them confused with himself and all," Remus told solemnly, at least this was one thing that rat could never take away, and

they'd always find more ways to pick at each other.

"At least I got an O on my Transfiguration that someone got an A on." Sirius returned flatly, but there was finally a real grin coming back as well.

"You cheated," Remus insisted. "The lot," very heavy wince, "both of you," he quickly corrected. "Bloody extra practice and all, too many years ahead."

"You're just jealous you got O's in two classes to my three," Sirius insisted.

"Padfoot the only thing I'm jealous at you about is your never ending idiocy. How do you continue to make a fool of yourself?" Remus pleasantly returned.

James had only just opened his mouth to butt in as well when Lily cut in above them all with a relieved smile on her face. "Honestly, the lot of you, you're still arguing about this how many years later? You're all idiots, no matter what those grades said."

"There's my wife, keeping us all in perspective with her- how many OWLs did you get?" He suddenly broke off by asking her, she'd never answered him in school and it hadn't come up in

recent times.

"I'm not telling," she insisted with a grin, "because it is pointless now." She honestly admired all of them, for still finding ways to make each other laugh with the rat being so vividly present now more than ever, but they couldn't ignore this forever. Remus paused and had to swallow hard before going back, when all he really wanted to do was snap this shut, he didn't want to reminisce about what came next any more than the couple.

James managed quite a pleased smile he'd impressed his son with his fun.

Which vanished instantly, his face flushing red, though he was still so pale he looked more pink and still likely to start screaming if he had to keep remembering how much he'd enjoyed his friend indulging his every whim.

Lily was brushing at her hair with vigor now, her nails catching on a few strands. This memory had replayed so many times so vividly in her head she didn't need Harry's descriptions, and vainly hoped that for once, this time would be different, that her son wouldn't even recognize her because nothing special had happened that day...

"Don't even start Sirius," Remus told him without looking up. "It's my misfortune of the universe repeating these circumstances."

"But it's hilarious," Sirius insisted like Moony was missing on the joke of a lifetime.

"No, it's not," Remus rolled his eyes behind the pages and kept going loudly.

Sirius flipped his hair over his shoulder and preened, Harry fighting the urge more every moment to tell his godfather to cool it. Normally his bravdo was endearing, and hilarious, though that part was probably unintentional. He couldn't even really find anything wrong with this scene that should bother him, aside from Wormtail they seemed to be acting casually enough, why was the

idea of being in here weighing so heavily on him he wanted to snap at all of them?

Harry remembered his mum and dad mentioning that earlier, and now realized why he would have seen this. He supposed he could see his mums point in him showing off a bit, but it's not as if

he had an audience watching like the twins so often did, he was just entertaining himself.

Underneath the visage from being so bluntly reminded of his many fond memories of this, some shock creeped through, as that had never even occurred to him. Why would it? He'd loved impressing everyone, especially his own friends. Tainted as it was now, he was left questioning all of this for the first time. Was Peter faking it? Was he actually envious? He still hadn't gotten his

answer of why someone he cared so much for would do to him in their future.

Harry had noticed his dad doing that quite a lot, and he almost smiled just a bit that no matter the torment his friend's reminder did to him, at least some parts of him had stayed the same.

"This is true," Remus tisked loudly over his own beating heart pounding through his head, despising the reminder of this hurting them all so much, and Harry may not even understand why yet. It was clear from his expression something of this day was bothering them all, but while he could wrap his head around it was the not so simple thing of vividly remembering Wormtail back in their lives so casually for the Marauders, he was yet sure what had his mother so near to tears.

He forced himself to keep going loudly with his first train of thought, even in the awkward silence. "Whenever I tried, he just told me to shut up, because he was doing it for me."

"Honestly, the only reason I told him to stop was because I was fixing to suggest we go take a swim in the lake, otherwise I would have joined him," Sirius shrugged, ignoring how forced the

casual movement was.

"Did you actually think that would work?" Lily arched a brow at him.

"I didn't want to go swimming, as I knew full well he was fixing to say," Remus shrugged. "I was delaying for a moment so I could claim to go back inside and work in peace."

"That is also true," Remus muttered with an eye roll Harry must have missed at the time.

"You're descriptions are as accurate as ever," James told Harry with a straight face, but Sirius merely winced instead of the laugh he really felt. The two weren't exactly proud they'd started this fight between Evans and Snivellus. Sirius watched Lily tentatively, a need to defend himself this was common place, he hadn't known he'd resort to calling her that when this exact set up had happened countless times in their past already without such a thing happening, but the words died before they could start. An apology would probably just make her angrier, but now at him.

Lily groaned miserably as she kept eyes on her infant. James and Sirius exchanged a look, but as one decided to risk it and said, "sorry Lily."

"Don't bother," she snapped, clearly Sirius' prediction had been right. "You don't mean it."

"I am sorry," James insisted. "I never would have thought he'd-"

"You're sorry for what he did," Lily corrected harshly, "not for what you did, so save it."

James closed his mouth without bothering to correct her, and Harry's bad feeling was growing worse than ever. This wasn't really...

Remus' face folded as he easily recalled that look. He'd used to love seeing all the spells they learned in class in action on others. He hated how much it hurt to remember even the tiniest details about him. Thankfully Sirius and James were now plenty distracted by Lily they seemed more apt to ignoring this, but since Remus had kept himself out of this one, it was a bit harder for him to continue ignoring the rats every motion.

"He was, considering-" Sirius began with a sneer, now itching for a rematch just to let off some pent up frustration all of this was dragging up, which he sadly wasn't going to find in here. He

only stopped as Lily glared at him with an old familiar look he hadn't seen in awhile, and that wasn't helping to clear his mind of this.

All four of them were so distracted, tense and waiting for a blow they never would have wished upon Lily, they all missed the look growing on Harry's face at recalling this scene.

"Least you've gathered the important details already," Sirius told Harry absently, glancing at him for a moment rather than watching Lily, and blinking in surprise Harry hadn't laughed along like he always had when they'd taken shots at Snape in here. Sirius wasn't actually sure what that face was, but he now frowned more heavily than ever for what Harry was thinking without sharing.

Remus made a guttural noise of agitation, wishing Harry would quit noting such things already. They were all well aware if it wasn't Sirius and James starting the fight it was him egging them all on, but Harry reminding them of that only made this all far worse than they would have thought.

"That actually took two curses longer than usual," James insisted on pushing for a casual tone of voice when addressing Lily. "Exactly how long had you been on the fence about him before this

happened?"

Lily pursed her lips, not particularly wanting to answer him, and then she glanced at Harry and saw the look on his face. The expression surprised her, but she supposed he'd put together what this day was for her, but if he clearly had no care for the answer than she wouldn't indulge James' curiosity on this.

When her silence persisted, Remus kept going anyways. James had been well aware, as often as he'd mentioned it, that Lily had been seen out of company of Snape more often than not their last

few months of fifth year, so he didn't know what his mate was trying to accomplish by asking such things, but he would try to save him from the answer anyways.

Remus made some attempt at a laugh, speaking absently, "more idiotic than anything," but he didn't even pause for James to defend himself even if he would have.

Sirius was looking for it now, and watched another line cross Harry's face, his eyes growing as tight as his mothers for all of this coming back to him. Sirius wanted to reassure him that as bad as it was for Lily to be remembering all of this, that part was the common place, but he didn't want to interrupt right now in hopes Remus was almost done already, or even better, the actual Snape would show up and stop this. Quite an odd want, but it was killing him to watch this eat away at Lily, and he'd never have wanted Harry to see this in person, it was bad enough being told what the creep had once done to his mother.

"This time, you really should have emphasized that point," James told her, though she continued ignoring him in hopes he'd take the hint this wasn't helping. She pulled out of his arms and laid

against the armrest instead, the baby still cradled tight in her arms her only comfort right now.

James looked hurt, he'd only been trying to help, but for now he crossed his arms and gave her her space.

James still found that to be true, that Snape had grown up knowing Lily and never seemed to value that enough but instead spent far more time in the company of pre Death Eaters, that his

mere existence felt like a blocker to what James wanted more than anything, to be close to her, but there was always that sniveling used napkin in the way that Lily kept defending.

Harry made some kind of noise, but James was too distracted watching Lily to process it. He supposed Harry would have been plenty confused about all this in his time though.

Remus glanced up curiously, he'd felt Harry turn sharply to him and watched for a moment in confusion as Harry scrutinized him, but was he really looking at him like that because he hadn't

laughed at the joke? Harry didn't offer anything though, and Remus went back to reading feeling as heavy as ever this couldn't just be done with. He almost would have preferred Harry to

interrupt, it probably would have been a better distraction than forcing out this mess.

"Bad timing there mate," Sirius helpfully inserted what he'd been thinking at the time.

"Thank you for not sharing that at the time," James rolled his eyes, "wish you'd carried that on."

"Would you look it there, I beat out that sea creature after all," James seemed to almost pleasantly inform her, and he saw almost a twitching smile come back to her.

"Really? I didn't see that," James blinked in surprise, he hadn't thought he'd gotten a real smile out of Lily for at least another year. How many other times had he made her smile without getting the pleasure of seeing? More importantly, how long had Snape been acting an arse to her before this happened for her to be doing it so openly now?

No one answered, especially not Harry, who was still processing all this so slowly he felt like his head had filled with molasses. All he was sure of, was that he didn't feel like laughing along right now like his dad was clearly hoping someone was.

"Payback complete, now where's a broomshed," Sirius muttered for himself.

"The first proper response of their day," Remus agreed absently.

"That would be a duel to see," Sirius hummed, though thankfully it had never gone that far, and at least now it never would. Lily mostly just shouted at them, and that was more than enough to stop Prongs, which in turn was just enough to stop the rest of them.

Remus wanted to stop. He dreaded the next words to come pouring out of his mouth, because usually, the fight stopped there. Lily came forward and her and Snape walked off. This time though, he had to take a very deep breath before finishing.

Remus frowned hatefully, never in his life having wanted to say that word, and detesting he truly just had in regards to one of his friends.

Harry gasped, as it finally snapped together for him. She'd told him she'd stopped being friends with Snape because he'd called her that in public one day, screamed it at her in the middle of a

courtyard, were her exact words...but he hadn't realized it had been this exact day! He looked desperately to her, but she wouldn't look at him, wouldn't look at any of them.

James was aching to put his arms back around her, to promise she wasn't alone, but she didn't want his comfort right now. She didn't blame him for this anymore, as she had for the rest of that year. Things had changed over the summer, she'd changed when she finally realized her relationship with him was irreparable like this day had proven.

James didn't bother to deny this, even as Sirius politely told him, "you failed at that every time by the way."

"Exactly how big were those lines?" Remus asked of him.

Sirius made his eyes go big with confusion, and so Remus just rolled his own.

"Nah," James huffed, "Hagrid showed up then. Though I might have if he really hadn't apologized, I was still wanting one even without her around," he said in no uncertain terms.

Far from looking reassured, Harry's expression only darkened, much to all of the boys confusion, and Lily was still keeping eyes only for her infant and wasn't watching any of them.

"Uroh," Sirius hummed. This must be why Harry was looking so off, no one would be happy being caught doing this.

Lily did look up sharply at that, anger now the most dominant thing rather than the hurt of her youth. Yes Harry was in the wrong, but if he hurt her boy, Snape was going to wish she'd killed him that day instead of simply dropping him from her life.

James and Sirius snarled in outrage, all eyes flashing furiously for Harry being treated like this. All of them were trying to reach for their wand now, growing more worried by the second Snape was fixing to turn on Harry with worse than the curse that had left a scar on James that day.

Harry though could hardly react, this moment of seeing Snape trying to remind him of something he just couldn't concentrate on right now, still far too wrapped in an all to living realization.

All four of them made a noise of outrage Snape had really hurt him. He'd deserved a detention certainly, they wouldn't have even argued if Snape had done a number of things like emptying house points or weeks of detentions, but actually harming him was far past crossing the line. The oddest part was, Harry wasn't even rubbing at his arm now, for all the world his face showed he

couldn't care less, and it was depressing the lot of them to see him go so silent with no idea why.

"I thought you or him exploded that by accident, he actually threw that at you!" Sirius barked in outrage.

Harry had no reaction, he wouldn't look at any of them.

Remus' brows shot up in surprise as they were finally getting an idea of why Harry hadn't spoken a word during that whole exchange, and that's the part he'd focused on? He finished curiously,

and hadn't been expecting that.

HPHPHPHP

Yes, yes I am everything you are thinking right now of me cutting that off there...but look on the bright side, I'll see you all Tuesday!

*Nicknames offered by Xovercrazy and MelodyGirl239 in that order

**I think I'm allowed some direct quotes from the books, and these are just too magnificent to pass up.


	29. CAREER ADVICE

"Hey!" James spluttered in hurt and confusion. "I was defending Lily-"

"You started it," Harry told him. His tone was trying extremely hard not to sound accusatory, to let James say something for himself, but he could not stop that heavy weighing pit pressing so hard on him. He'd spent his whole life wanting to meet his parents, and now he had, but now, after seeing that... he'd never expected his dad to be more like Dudley.

"This was two days after Snape stunned Sirius and left him behind that broom shed for practically a whole night," Remus put in. "James was just offering a little return of favor."

"And the week before you lot cursed him so bad he spent two days in the hospital wing with a cauldron stuck over his head!" Lily snapped. "This fight went on since their first week of school,"

she finished in only a bit calmer voice towards Harry.

"I never denied I was a touch big-headed," James refused to be side tracked, even while Lily scoffed for his downplay, and to his crumpling heart his son frowned instead of smiling indulgently at them. "I've never hid from you how I, ah, what me and Snape were like to each other. What on earth suddenly has you agreeing with Snape?"

"I, you just attacked him," Harry emphasized. "You and Sirius, you humiliated him, and I know what that's like far more than whatever you were getting him back for. You lot were all so upset

whenever Dudley did anything to me when I was little, why's this so different?"

Sirius opened his mouth with a critical eye on Harry, all of them rather hurt and confused why they were defending themselves to Harry of all people. What Harry had grown up with was completely different in their mind's eye, as Harry had never had a chance to defend himself, whereas Snivellus had started those fights as often as they had.

So it was to everyone's surprise when Lily stepped in.

"Harry, I know that couldn't have been pleasant for you to see, I know it was never fun to watch them in action," she rolled her eyes while Harry looked desperately to her. "Yes they were idiots, they still are, but you know for a fact they're not Malfoy. They did those things to Snape and others because they were arses. I agree it wasn't always right, they should have found better things to do when they got bored, but they never intentionally hurt anyone, you really think I wouldn't

have cursed them stupid if they had," she finished with an affectionate smile at them.

Harry still didn't entirely feel better, but he also still couldn't bring himself to say the worst of it to her face. Her eyes were so gentle when talking to him, and still so fragile from being reminded of what a once friend had done to her. She clearly loved these idiots around her...but even watching

them interact, it was quite mind blowing to see that hateful redhead turn into what he was seeing in person. He'd gotten a few sparse details, but now he really wanted to know what on earth had changed, what happened? He glanced again at his dad though, and he just couldn't bring himself to ask, not yet, not with how sick he was feeling having never seen him in this light before.

He just sighed and gave a jerky nod to his head, still flattening his hair and couldn't quite look at any of them as Lily passed her infant to her husband and went to take the book away from Remus.

The boys still looked extremely put off that had been Harry's takeaway from that instance, they'd thought he'd been enjoying stories of their time at school. The thick layer of tension as Lily started wasn't at all unfamiliar now, but never before had it felt so personal to them in regards to Harry.

"That's what she caught on," Sirius demanded, all the more bothered Harry wouldn't meet his eyes as he muttered back:

"I didn't tell her the reason."

"Liar, liar," Remus tried to playfully point out, but frowned all the more when Harry kept studying his nails. The worst part for all three of them was they couldn't tell if Harry was mad at them, or still sympathizing with Snape, or just disappointed. He wasn't telling them, and they'd thought they'd earned his trust more than that. Could one stupid instance really have ruined that?

James didn't even want to play in with the joke. He'd been worried when he'd gotten so upset about Harry for his lying about the Dursley's that he'd irreparably scared his son away from him.

Now it turns out he'd accomplished that instead by just being himself.

"Then he probably would kill you," Lily muttered, the sad part was she really meant it.

"At least you admit to that," Sirius insisted, he'd never let awkward silence hang, and he'd keep at Harry until he really said what was on his mind.

"Because that's really the reminder we wanted," Remus huffed.

"Is it such a surprise she gave him a night off?" Lily almost chuckled.

"Considering this was our OWLs, or the most important day in our lives, yes, it was quite the shocker he got one," Harry told her glumly, though that could have been for the reminder of why

he hadn't gotten one, which Lily didn't get until she'd kept going.

"Thank you for the reminder," James said bitterly, another thing he couldn't seem to enjoy without wanting to curse something.

"So a very good chance then," Lily said pleasantly, and at least they could all agree on that.

Sirius watched Harry with genuine concern, though at least this time it wasn't for whatever was going through his head, mostly that he just still had that book instead of using it for spitballs by now.

Lily got a personal giggle out of that, it reminded her too much of her own cat.

'Ironically, it was a girl that was bothering me,' Harry frowned to himself, wondering how Hermione did that, even if she'd gotten the wrong girl.

Lily just frowned sadly at the pages for an extra moment. It was saddening Harry wasn't telling his friends about what he saw. He should be aloud to talk about it, but then again, he didn't even seem to want to talk about it much in here considering he'd hardly look at any of them.

"Happy to note when Ron's being useful," James muttered, tensing himself in fear what Harry was really thinking would come up, he wasn't even sure he wanted to hear his thoughts from what

little he'd said aloud.

James ruffled in frustration that just one stupid memory had really tarnished him so much to Harry. Snape had been the one to insult his mother, what was he being targeted for? The question burned at his throat, but right now he was sure if he let it out he might just yell it in frustration, so he kept himself together.

Lily gave him a pitiful look, she couldn't imagine what Harry was feeling at that age. He'd never met his parents, so of course those who had would only tell of his good parts. Who wanted to

share with an orphan that their parent used to have some arse like tendencies? Certainly not Hagrid who struggled to say a mean word about anyone, and most definitely not his enabler and

best friend who even now was just as hurt and confused why all his words were being thrown out the window just because Harry had caught Snape with his pants down.

"Oh I can," James rolled his eyes.

"Exactly," Remus put his hands up in frustration, they'd really been aghast Harry hadn't seen it that way, but now it was clear the thought had at least crossed his mind, so why was he still

looking at them like he'd never seen them before, again.

James could not hold that one in, even as he tried very hard not to snap at Harry, "well sure, that sounds bad if you didn't already know what we'd already told you." He was even going to keep going, to tell Harry how jealous he'd been of Snape's life having more to do with Lily than him, but was surprised when Harry actually looked at him again, looking outraged.

"You've never said you treated him like Dudley used to treat me."

They looked shocked Harry could say such a thing, James spluttering for some kind of reversal for Harry to see it hadn't been that way at all! "What? No, Harry Dudley's a bully who beat on you, we, I-"

"Okay, yeah, everyone thinks they have a good reason for it," Harry cut in sharply, he didn't want to hear some pitiful excuse like Dudley would sometimes give teachers at his old school.

James couldn't decide if he was going to cry with frustration or just leave the room in shame. He looked back to his baby, which had been a source of comfort to his life since the day Lily had

placed his hand on her womb and told him the news. Now though, he was suddenly terrified just to hold the infant, like he too would turn on him and start biting at his throat even without teeth.

Apparently leaving the room won, he got up and left anyways, and Harry watched him go with frustration. Great, now his father was a coward as well who wouldn't even hear what Harry was

thinking. He moved away from the other two, to sit in the chair by himself, he needed just to not be around any of them for a moment. He instantly regretted it though, his father's last words

echoing in his head from thirteen, James Potter shouting through a dementor for Lily to run. James had sacrificed his life to buy his real life some time, there must be an explanation for this...

"He just went to put our son down in his crib," Lily told him as she watched him glare daggers at the staircase. In moments her words spoke true, he was back at her side with a huffy grumble of

words. She paused to reach out and take his hand, holding the book a bit awkwardly in place as she gave it a squeeze before having to let go to keep going. Harry still wasn't speaking his mind in here, not really, and she wasn't sure if it was anger or still something else holding him back, so Lily kept going patiently. She hated having to drag answers from the book rather than him and wished he'd just tell them off already, she knew that always made her feel better, but perhaps he was still too muddled to put it all together.

Remus opened and closed his mouth with unease. He'd stayed out of the fights as often as he'd been involved, it really was dependent on the circumstances. Considering Sirius had been missing for almost eight hours a day ago and scared them all senseless until they'd found him behind that broom shed, he'd felt James and Sirius had a right to this payback.

James continued to look all the more miserable at Harry's choice of phrase. Snape had been the one to use a dark curse on him, all he'd done was try and get him to apologize, what was so indecent about that? It wasn't at all what Dudley or even Malfoy had ever tried to do, he couldn't figure out where Harry was coming from!

Yet the memory of the look on his mother's face disturbed him as much as anything. Her clear loathing of him, how hatefully she'd shouted at the instance, he couldn't figure out how they'd ever married. He'd even started to wonder if somehow James had forced her into it.

"Hey!" James shouted, now glaring daggers at his spitting image. "Fine, call me what you will, but that's crossing the line Harry!"

Harry finally met his eyes, and shamefully whispered, "I'm sorry," an awkward pause as he wanted James to know he truly meant that, just watching the two beside each other made that clear as day, but he couldn't help finishing, "about that."

"Okay, enough," Lily seethed, snapping the book shut and looking between the two. She'd thought Harry would work this out for himself, but if he was drawing those kind of conclusions,

this wasn't to be avoided anymore. "Harry, I detested James because he was acting like an arrogant birk, he was as bad as Dudley and Malfoy in his youth."

"Thanks so much for the defense dear," James put his hands up in frustration, but she ignored him.

"But he was also the same then as he is now, some parts just outgrew others. He's still a proud idiot who stands by his friends, he's still a troublemaker who won't see anyone being picked on without returning the favor."

James was still watching her like he couldn't decide if half of that was supposed to be complimentary or not, but Harry wasn't watching him anymore like he thought he was holding Lily hostage, so he'd take it.

Harry still tried to explain the nasty thought process, "but you-" he cut off with a vague wave back at the book, that memory.

"I only saw the worst parts of him while I was friends with Snape because we were friends and Potter was picking on my friend, something I obviously couldn't stand for. Yet when Snape did

that to me, I was forced to reevaluate a lot of things, including him. I saw he hadn't really changed in the next year, but he did continue to grow up."

He nodded, and tried to find the words to explain, "I guess I just, never really imagined," but it was hard, as at fifteen he was still processing it all, making anything he tried to string together in here nay impossible until he'd come to fully grasp it back then. He did feel better he supposed, Lily had married him after all, and the love and care they continued giving to their infant and this life was more than proof enough something had changed in between those times.

He looked back to his dad and said with clear sincerity, "I am sorry."

James nodded, still with a hard set on his jaw, but was forced to acknowledge his son was speaking of someone he'd never even met. That didn't make the hurt any less.

James recoiled, suddenly feeling his throat tighten, having to blink very carefully or the hurt of that would spill out. Only days ago, for the first time in his life he'd known how it felt to have his son be proud of him when he'd seen the lengths they'd gone through to help Remus with his transformation. Now that had all been stripped away.

Sirius groaned in frustration, fighting back the urge to snap at Harry like he would anyone thinking like this about James, though the oddity of it being Harry held him back. He couldn't think of anything to say, Harry was clearly still feeling off about all three of them so talking to him clearly wasn't making it any better.

Harry blinked slowly, unconsciously twisting his ring upon his finger. He felt like this should mean more to him, now that his crush on Cho had been eradicated, but it was far too hard to focus on much of anything except that old look on his mother's face, the sneer upon James he still didn't seem to grasp was so similar to Dudley's the many times he'd socked Harry in the face.

"Well at least something interesting finally happened there," James mumbled.

Remus couldn't help a surprised splutter of laughter that he didn't try very hard to hide, any humor he'd cling to rather than somehow finding himself even lower in Harry's opinion than before, and that had been saying something.

"Thank you, now I feel all warm and fuzzy inside like she is on the outside," Sirius snipped, and Harry almost smiled again. It still felt awkward, to look at Sirius and think more of Piers Polkiss, but this was his godfather. A man who'd escaped from Azkaban for Harry's safety, The man who was allowing himself to be shut up inside his childhood nightmare all for Harry's sake. If he'd been a prat as a child, laughing along as his best mate hung someone upside down, surely in his adult life in looking after that same man's kid had to make up for it?

Lily made a grumpy little noise, she still remembered Hermione delivering those last year and Molly's actions, but the woman had made up for it since then.

"Obviously he doesn't appreciate the reminder he's still banned from the Quidditch team, Ginny coming up there to report as much plus the icing helped nothing," James shrugged, before Harry

winced, and he realized his son had actually still been acquitting this to that memory. He couldn't even glance at Harry again to see if he'd fixed his expression, he only had left a burning desire to murder Snape all over again. The man seemed to have a gift for ruining everything in his life.

"That is quite a girl," Lily said mostly for herself. "I wonder if she still has a crush on you, but even so, she's still trying to help you out."

When Harry didn't answer, finding Cho the least consequential thing in his life right now, Lily let out a breathy sigh and kept going pitifully with worry growing more all the time. Was it possible, Harry really couldn't see past all that? She could hardly hold the idea his father ruined the rest of his life, if in fact he'd carried this with him right up to the day he'd lost his memories and been transported here. If he'd really grown to hate the idea of her husband? For a moment she couldn't breath at the idea as she looked at their only child, but then she really saw him. Harry had his hands tucked tight into his lap, only occasionally releasing the grip to flatten his hair. He kept a

nervous eye on the tread of his shoes, he'd never liked their awkward silence and of course she couldn't blame him for that, but surely if he'd progressed into outright hating James he'd be

showing signs of that. For now he still looked more like he wasn't sure how to react to this news- no! She wouldn't let that happen! She kept going steadily, keeping a watchful eye on him and vowing to put that to a stop if the moment became apparent. James was a good man, Harry must know that. For all his faults, he was on the right side.

They all looked to him in surprise for that, he'd been the last person they'd been expecting Harry to want to see right now considering he hadn't been looking at his godfather any more than his father.

"Well I'm here now," Sirius stated with a critical eye, wondering if Harry was going to pass into a bit of shouting, or...okay he couldn't really figure out why Harry wanted to talk to him considering he was the person who'd started this.

Harry took a careful breath, before he tried to start. He couldn't quite meet his eyes, but spoke more to the left of his head as he began hesitantly, "that-" he broke off, he couldn't decide how to phrase it and just hoped he'd understand, "that thing you did to Snape-"

He understood. Sirius' face flushed and he recoiled. He was not proud of almost getting someone killed, by means of one of his best friends. So he had not a clue where Harry was trying to draw

lines from there, but he hurried to say, "hey, I never- I mean, look I apologized to the blighter! He didn't think I meant it and he told me to-"

"I just meant," Harry quickly cut off his desperate attempts to explain that, but Harry wasn't holding a grudge for the moment. He'd accepted it for what it was, yet another prank of theirs that seemed to have gone so wrong. He just wanted to know, "I know you regretted it, but when did that happen?"

Sirius exchanged a wary look with his friends before saying, "the previous month, full moon, whatever."

Harry's face puckered, this clearly wasn't the answer he was hoping for, and Sirius' chest hurt as he thought Harry still considered the worst of him for that. "Listen, Moony and I had only just started talking again, and yeah we were all still a little on edge considering I'd only just gotten out of the Hospital Wing from that last Quidditch match that knocked me out. Don't blame Prongs and Remus for all the stupid shit I did."

Harry shook his head slowly as he tried to explain, "I'm just trying to understand, if that didn't make you stop having a go at him, what changed?" They all got so furious when they heard what

Dudley had done to him in his youth, what Malfoy continued to do to him and the people in his life, why did they consider themselves better?

Sirius very clearly did not get the question. "I hadn't believed it possible, but he was worse to us after that exchange, always hissing that he knew what we were really up to now. If Dumbledore

hadn't threatened to expel him, honestly the only time that man ever used such a threat just to keep a lid on Snape's greasy mouth, Moony probably would have been in Azkaban!"

Remus flinched hard at the still likely statment for his life, but Sirius was only getting angry while Harry was growing more dispirited Sirius wasn't exactly answering his question, so he intervened. "Harry, after Sirius ran away from home during that summer and moved in with James, glory I can't even describe the state Sirius was in. I only heard about it a few days after and came around, and he was still in a right state. Took the two ages to fully get out telling me what all had happened that night."

"Which was?" Harry felt bad pushing for this, he wanted to respect their right not to have to share something clearly so personal to Sirius, but he just wanted to understand, surely they got that?

James at least seemed to, waiting until it was clear Sirius was fighting up the words to say it himself before James spoke it for him. "His parents were trying to get him to drop out of school,

go join the Death Eaters."

Harry spluttered in disgust, James nodding in agreement with that expression at least. "It turned into quite a fight..." he trailed off, and Harry was sure he was still missing how bad that really

must have been, what state had Sirius shown up in? When James said a fight, did he really- curses had been thrown around by his own parents?

"After that, well, I just couldn't, seem to, it wasn't fun anymore to-" he broke off with an odd outward gesture, but Harry got the idea.

"I'm sorry." He actually wasn't sure who he was apologizing to this time. James for all the terrible thoughts, or Sirius for his childhood. He wasn't even sure if this made what he'd seen better, but it did give him some sort of understanding at least what made him stop.

"Stop apologizing," James half heartedly scolded. "I can't even imagine you having to see all that for the first time."

"Hopefully you do find a way to talk to Sirius, I'm sorry you couldn't go home over Easter break to try," Remus offered.

Harry nodded with hope he did speak to him, soon, and their was finally a catch of relief from his mind, some kind of promise this would come true, and Lily finally felt a soft bliss brush her words again as she kept going this would all work out.

Sirius snorted enthusiastically, well aware the look his mates were giving him was for his doing the same on all foods.

Harry swiped furiously at the sweat beading up on his forehead. He'd just had a nice moment with his dad and godfather, at least he didn't hate them at the moment, why did his mind have to choose now to thump so hard against his skull. That pain was just unhelpful, it's not like he knew why something he'd said was so wrong, so unless he could get some use out of knowing the right

answer, so he forcefully ignored the pressure.

"This is true!" James nodded eagerly. If talking to Sirius in here had clearly helped Harry, he was positive the same would happen in his time, and he was all for Harry never thinking anything of his marriage like that again.

"I know that always improves my mood," Lily giggled, finally feeling lighthearted again now that her son was almost smiling along at the lot of her boys.

"In any situation, honestly sweets have been known to stop wars," Remus grinned.

"No they haven't," James countered with an eye roll, "and I don't consider you and Sirius wrestling over a pack of gum a war."

"Well I did," Sirius sniffed, hating how his chest hurt as he remembered who had taken the last piece to stop them while James had been laughing his arse off, but then he'd bought them both

their own candy bar at the next Hogsmeade trip just to shut them up.

To Harry and Lily, it was clear something was being untold here, but considering the only times they'd ever held back in sharing was when it involved a particular someone, they didn't ask for

details as Lily kept going.

Harry gave a breathy laugh he wasn't quite sure had all to do with that and something to do with his company. Finally wondering about how Ginny had been the one to make him smile after

something so-

Lily had cut off his train of thought quite loudly and he startled in surprise.

Sirius burst out laughing at Harry's jump.

Remus shook his head without remorse. "Honestly, how she even got in there with those I've no clue, normally Pince can scent that out by a mile."

"You were expecting this the whole time?" Harry demanded as he half glared at them all.

"Yep," James agreed, popping the P for emphasis, "we were taking silent bets on how long it would last, and I think Lily won."

Lily rolled her eyes, knowing they'd been far too distracted to be doing any such thing, but it made Harry roll his eyes in exasperation at them again, so she didn't counter him.

"I accidentally crushed my egg she startled me so bad," Harry grumbled, "got it all over the book I was reading anyways, so that was her fault." Then he brightened and added on, "but Ginny split her egg with me, told me it was only fair."

It was so sweet to see such a simple smile cross his face again that they all paused for a moment with glee Harry's life wasn't all bad.

"I've been waiting for this one to show up," Remus nodded.

"I still can't believe you argued with McGonagall for your whole time about whether illegal breeding should be made into an actual career," James shook his head at him.

"It was the only thing I could think of at the time," Remus shrugged without remorse. "Hagrid put me onto the idea when he showed up in our last Creatures class talking about how he'd once seen a fire breathing fish, I was really only trying to help him."

"Now you want to work with Goblins instead," Sirius rolled his eyes, before telling Harry, "suppose it's better than his last year of school where he was convinced he could go work with

dragons, something like what Charlie does. For some reason he kept thinking I was joking when I wrote out his eulogy."

"At least I've got ideas," Remus scowled at him. "According to you, you spent the whole time with McGonagall telling her what you didn't want to do, I recall your statement 'no homework,'

five times when telling us about it."

"Give me a break, I was sick of it at the time, forcing us to do this right before the exams to define those careers!" Sirius grumbled. He decided to inform them though, "you should be even more pleased with me than usual though-"

"Oh this'll be good," Remus rolled his eyes.

"-that I have decided to look into something, I want to meet Arthur for more than the company."

They paused with a curious look at him, his smile widening all the more. "Honestly, it does sound fascinating. May as well do something with my best Owl grade, and it would be a great way for

me to spurn my parents all the more, though that's just a bonus."

Harry couldn't help laughing loudly at them again, even at such a detail as hearing their plans for after the war. No matter how unhappy he was at their past actions, he always managed to find just as much joy in their life. He eyed his parents curiously, and Lily happily added on, "it was McGonagall who helped me decided to join the Ministry in an effort to help with their laws, we had a nice discussion about my interests in bettering the wizarding community."

James hesitated at first, he wasn't even sure if Harry still cared enough to hear his, but Harry was still watching him. His expression was a touch weary, did he honestly expect James to declare he'd waltzed in there asking for a professional career in bullying? But all he'd been doing in here was looking to share with his son, so he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity now.

"I had no clue what I was doing going in," James shrugged. "Both of my parents were potioneers, but I never much favored that, so I'd spent the past five years already looking for anything else. It was McGonagall who really gave me the idea of being an Auror though, said a little law enforcement might make me consider all the rules I break," he finished with a smirk. He hesitated,

but confessed, "I was going to start training once you were a bit older," he went cross eyed for a moment telling this to his adult son, that never got any less weird, "but I don't know, now I still might try something else. I still like to draw, maybe I'll do something with broom designs." He'd considered it once or twice in the past, but had always had something bigger to keep the idea at the back once it occurred to him, now not so much.

"You certainly made up enough in school," Remus agreed with a smirk. "Though I suggest the first one you offer to any company not be the Lilium model, no one needs to know you dedicated

a broom to Lily."

James went wide eyed with innocence while Lily blushed faintly as she demanded, "I never saw that one."

"I still have the drawing," James shrugged without remorse. "I'll show it to you later."

If Harry'd ever had any doubts before, they were dashed the instant he saw the tender look cross her face. He could just imagine his mother at sixteen, watching James do something like this in school, and her realization his love was not some joke.

Feeling slightly flustered now at realizing they still had an audience, Lily kept going loudly.

"What a disappointment," Remus said deadpan.

"I suppose it's having those grades that's a start to showing you can handle multiple things at once, it's a very responsible job," Lily offered. She'd considered it for a time, but had quickly discovered after helping Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing for a day she didn't handle bodily fluids well. Her shaking from helping with the boy's wounds the other day hadn't all been from stress.

"Hush Sirius," Lily told him without looking up.

"You never let me have any fun," he grumbled, "so you really are like Hermione."

Lily did look up then just to sarcastically tell him, "congratulations, you've pointed out we're the responsible ones."

"I can see her doing that, she'd make a very good bridge between the worlds," Remus agreed.

"Sounds like I'm set," Sirius smirked without realizing he'd said it aloud, and then shrugged to the surprised looks he hadn't all at been joking moment before. "Yeah, so I like the sound of what Arthur does."

"Congratulations," Lily said again without the sarcasm. "Though dear I do recomend you please consider that motorcycle and what happened with Arthur."

Sirius made a face at her, he didn't want to give up his bike for a job. Maybe he'd find a way to make a career out of wizard autoparts, or he'd just invent a need for that.

"Well I have that as well," Sirius said with a bitter smile, "so I'm still all set to meet him."

After he'd seen what they'd done to Snape, Harry no longer had any reservations the threat made against his Muggle side of the family were very real, and yet he never really considered them even family to him, not like he did to those around him in his short stay here. It was quite the conundrum in his mind, to see himself in his youth facing Dudley/ James, but at the same time he couldn't feel much sorrow if that kind of attention was turned on Vernon. Did that make him a bully to? Or simply wanting some people to deserve what they get for the way they treated others?

"Well when they put it like that, I can actually see why Moony fell for it," James said. "You do know you can still take your Arithmancy OWL right?" James directed at Harry.

"I didn't know at the time," Harry shrugged, remembering an earlier explanation of theirs on how he'd do this. "I'm sure if I bring it up with McGonagall she'll explain it to me."

"Least Hermione's looking at all of her options," Sirius chuckled in surprise.

"She's had enough practice this year dealing with Umbridge," Remus grumbled.

"I think that means she's not very apt for the job though," James smirked, "considering that troll has yet to learn its lesson."

"I'm sure that'll change before the years up though," Harry said darkly.

"Always a treat," Sirius perked up.

"Poetic," Lily giggled. Considering their current climate, she may well have burned them all.

"Hermione does clean up enough of Harry's messes," James chuckled.

Harry just looked at him in exasperation, which made James laugh all the harder his son didn't deny it.

"I was rather disappointed to note this, yes," Remus sighed. They'd mentioned mayhem, and then released a spectacular start, but they'd all been a little distracted to realize nothing else had happened. Now they were realizing, and hoping, the twins may have even more up their wands.

"Really? I found that the best time to catch people off guard," James smirked, then winced hard when Harry frowned heavily at him. It clearly wasn't funny to him anymore now that he had an

idea of what James really meant by that. He wanted to pull Harry aside, he felt a long overdue conversation was worth it, but Lily was still insistently going, and now that Harry had the opportunity in his time to work this out with Sirius he supposed he understood why. If Harry reached some sort of resolution in his time it would help him in here, so he'd wait till then.

"That is so hurtful," Remus rolled his eyes, "in a school so large, I always liked to think others tried to be considerate of everyone else."

"If not, it helped to show them otherwise," Sirius snickered.

"By making twice the disruption," Lily grumbled.

"I note she uses that tone a lot," Lily rolled her eyes, all the more agitated Sirius so enjoyed comparing her to Hermione, she had never considered herself smarter than others like the idiots

around her so often did.

Harry looked uneasily around like he was expecting to be scolded, but found no one in here found the idea any more harrowing than a trip into the Forest. Dangerous for sure, but the idea of using

the woman's own words against her held a rather vindictive pleasure to the lot of them.

"Irony in its purest form," Remus declared with that glint in his eyes Harry so often saw in here. He wondered if he'd paid more attention to Remus in that memory rather than the other two if he

would have seen more behind the book he'd hidden his face in.

"You had that for over a year and you didn't tell her about it?" Sirius said in surprise.

"I suspected too much of the same reaction I got from all the other gifts I got from you," Harry muttered. She had after all declared the Firebolt and Map unsafe at first and wanted him to be rid of those, he didn't see the point of drawing her attention to another thing from Sirius.

"Hang on," Sirius' face puckered with confusion, before he snapped his fingers and said, "Christmas this year pup, when you were leaving, I gave you something that you never wanted to

open, but you could talk to me with it!"

Harry sat there, flabbergasted with surprise as he said, "I'd, completely forgotten about it. I put it in my trunk, and-" he shook his head miserably at his mind, hating that hateful sting from himself promising he'd regret this even more soon.

That gave them all a heavy laugh, considering what they'd noticed at Christmas last year between Harry's friends. Harry's shoulders shaking hardest of all seemed an amusing indication to them

they weren't wrong in their guess, but they held it in, as maybe it still wouldn't go anywhere. It was still up in the air if they were reading the two right.

"It's all the funnier that's a response I'd expect from Arthur," James pointed out.

It was like a heavy weight being lifted from the room as they all laughed as one. Harry had been living a dream come true being able to spend time with his parents here, but now in his own time

when he needed them most, it meant more than words he still had someone to turn to. The way in which he was going to be able to somehow just made this all the sweeter, it was as if James was

helping from beyond the grave through the twins.

Lily went white lipped with fury as she remembered that treatment. It hadn't even phased Harry at the time he'd been so invested in his own mind, but she wasn't the only one who thought Snape should have been fired long ago, now he'd put his hands on Harry like that, and still nothing was going to be done about it! Yes Harry was at fault in that, but if he'd gone to Dumbledore,

something would have been done against a teacher leaving a bruise on a student, right?

"Did I?"

Harry considered for a moment. He had the feeling he hadn't pushed Sirius in his own time like he had in here, but he was confident he had spoken to his godfather at least, so he reassured, "I guess, I do understand a bit more, now." He paused and was surprised to see the relief on all three of them, and for a moment he felt ashamed of his anger, he couldn't believe he'd ever made them think he hated them. He continued earnestly, "I'm sure we do talk," he shook his head slightly for being so sure of this too early, but still ignored the feeling, "so it'll all work out."

Sirius beamed! It was hard to put into words the realization Harry didn't hate him, hate his own father because of something he'd done. Finally Sirius felt like he'd done something right!

James shook his head affectionately at the pair, now fighting back the urge more than ever to pull Harry aside so he could have a real chat with him, but now he couldn't bring himself to cut off their moment when Sirius was finally in a happy place about his own life.

Lily kept going with honest hope now, sure that in his life Sirius would help Harry through just like always.

Remus shivered in remembrance of the last time Harry had spotted something like that; it had been Padfoot, and they'd all been worried sick about what was going on during that time. Things had

somehow steadily gotten worse from there.

"Well that's nothing unusual," Sirius shrugged. They saw that a dozen times a day on their meanderings of the grounds.

All five of them shivered, just a bit, in fear for what Hagrid was up to. Still remembering his words, they forced themselves not to criticize he may be in over his head, but it didn't stop they worry for his well being while he did whatever it was.

Remus scoffed deeply in disgust, could Hermione really not let Harry ever make his own decision without foisting her opinion.

"Normally I find Hermione's normalleness refreshing," James said deadpan, "now I'd rather her go back to whining you don't do your homework to her standards."

Harry ducked into himself, shaking furiously for a moment, and they all thought it was from anger, and couldn't really blame him. Aside from the DA, had Hermione done anything this year

other than spend her time telling Harry to not have any interaction with Sirius. Even then, she'd spent some of her time not trusting Sirius' judgment when he approved of her plan. Hermione's constant attempts to keep Sirius out of everything spurned them all, but they all kept a tight bottle on saying anything about it. They were in such a good mood for Harry's reconciliation, having a go at Hermione would help nothing. She couldn't stop Harry from seeing Sirius, even if she wouldn't be supportive of it.

Sirius instead offered up something to distract Harry, "besides, that wouldn't work anyways. I'm in a heavily warded house, I doubt you could just blurt out where I am under magic, that has to be willing information."

Harry gave him a grateful look, the distraction had worked and whatever his mind had been trying to lace together unraveled just as fast.

"Nice distraction," Lily said grudgingly.

"Sadly Hermione didn't take the hint," Harry rolled his eyes, Ron's comment had only saved him one breath, but he had appreciated the attempt.

That did get a surprised burst of laughter out of the boys, at least temporarily stopping the near constant eye rolls of Hermione, to which Harry was grateful as he was worried that would soon cause permanent blindness.

Lily wasn't as distracted though, still sitting tense in her seat and waiting to see if somehow Snape would find some new way to torment her son for what he'd done, if he'd go even farther in

replicating his revenge onto the James that no longer lived but in his mind.

"That's," James worked furiously to come up with a nice comment for this instead of the new string of insults he wanted to pour out in regards to the man, but Harry was watching him with a

pinched face. He wasn't sure if his sons mood had irrevocably changed and now if he insulted the man his son would turn out worse than Lily curbing them for this, but he wouldn't put Harry so ostracized from him again; so he finished with, "an improvement."

"Better than he ever treated us," Sirius grudgingly agreed.

Remus kept his mouth shut, not trusting he'd say anything that would help, he rarely seemed to do that.

Harry gave them an awkward smile. He wasn't sure what this sudden surge was, something like forgiveness in his eyes when he thought back to Snape...but while watching Sirius he had an even worse omen this was probably the best he should hope for, or even that wouldn't last...

Lily beamed with pride. She just knew her son could have the potential to be good in this class, he could obviously concentrate as well as had the good intuition and reflexes that came with the skilled in this course.

"Oh, so he hasn't quit being an arse yet," Remus said blandly.

"Never could learn his lesson," Lily said bitterly.

James and Sirius exchanged a look before quickly looking to Harry, who felt exasperated and angry all over again. That had lasted shorter than he thought. Snape was still being an utter arse to him, and even if it was his dad that had made him that way, could he really not be the better person now that the man was dead?!

Harry ground his teeth in, thinking he'd quite like for Hermione to stop helping him lately.

"Damn," James burst in frustration. Hermione's intentions were always good, and always seemed to cause Harry more problems than he needed.

"Be glad it wasn't in the North Tower now," Sirius muttered.

Lily's face pinched so tight she looked like she'd been skeletonized.

"What is that doing there," James spat, at least this was someone he'd never have to reconsider insulting to his last breath.

"I'm sure she has a pleasant reason," Sirius snarled.

"Tonks, if I remember correctly," Harry recalled with a slight smirk of a past late night dinner at Grimmauld place. "She was chatting how Moody himself had taken her on."

"Well I'm beyond pleased for the girl," Remus grinned. "She watches her feet a bit more and she'll be a right intimidation."

"I'm sure she's already got you shaking in your pants," Sirius snickered.

Neither Lily nor Harry bothered correcting him for the incorrect Muggle phrase, it made them smile too much.

"All the easier to ignore her," James said almost pleasantly.

"Ha!" Sirius' sharp bark of laughter echoed loudly in the room, but all of them were grinning anyways for McGonagall's blatant dismissal of that broken pur.

James pouted slightly Harry had only the most passable of interest in his favorite subject, but at least they both still had Quidditch, at least if Harry ever bothered to speak to him again.

Considering the face he'd just made in here, no one had to ask why McGonagall had done this one, they'd all made the same face.

"I think he should have just been teaching those students period," Lily sighed. "He's no patience, maybe he wouldn't be such a bitter arse if he could teach those who could follow along better rather than young kids."

"If you're going to do that for one teacher, you should for all of them," Remus criticized. "I don't see Hogwarts inflating it's teacher population just because one teacher shouldn't even be there to handle all students."

Lily agreed, and honestly wondered why he was even there some days. He clearly had no love for his job, more than likely not even for the place itself. If all that was holding him there was some how connected to Dumbledore and whatever favor he'd done to keep him out of Azkaban for being a Death Eater, she did not find that a passable enough use for what he was doing to all of

the students, not just Harry, in alienating them from a whole subject.

"More than I'd offer her," James snipped.

"I'd want to see how long we could go on ignoring her." Sirius wondered. "Would she stand up and start jumping around while doing that stupid cough, or just choke herself trying to do it. I'm personally voting for the second."

"Clearly she can," Remus said through gritted teeth.

"Oh?" Lily raised a sharp brow. "I find that he has quite the clear head in most situations, though he could use some improvement on who to dish it out on from time to time, but no one's perfect."

Harry blushed faintly for his mother's words, especially who he'd so recently put it on. He gave his dad another apologetic look, who again met his eyes and nodded in some form of mutual

understanding and forgiveness.

"I've never said anything about being an Auror," Sirius went wide eyed in concern. "I'd never deny the world my good looks by taking one too many curses to the face, looking like Moody."

"You could take over Euphemia and Fleamont's business, it currently needs a face of the business now that they've passed on," Remus said with heavy sarcasm for Sirius and a sympathetic look at James; but he offered up a kind smile, knowing his parents would love the idea.

Sirius wasn't actually sure how he was supposed to respond to that statement. He didn't want to hurt Prongs' feelings with some snark nor in any way speak ill of two people he considered far

more his parents than his own, so let Remus win this round, for now.

"Considering there is no way in Merlin you are going to be able to get any kind of passing grade with Snape at the helm, I wouldn't hold my breath," Remus tisked.

Sirius growled louder than ever for this constant interruption by that flea. "I wanted to hear that one!"

"I'm sure it was something more along the lines of what he excelled at in class," Remus shrugged, he'd never intentionally over qualify Harry for something no matter how much he loved the kid.

"At some point you must not allow them to make that decision," James said with deadly calm.

"He means force feed the cough drop down her throat," Sirius pleasantly informed Harry like he'd missed the joke.

"Though I'm okay if it's something a bit larger that say, accidentally got stuck," James huffed.

"I'll recognize what that says when you recognize Voldemort's back you trumped up sugar plum," Lily scowled.

"I understand that you need to shove it!" James snapped in outrage. How was Remus the only good teacher Harry had yet had! He didn't even count Moody all the way considering he'd in fact tried to kill his son!

"False hope?" Remus scowled. "Harry could be the next Minister if he wanted to!"

"I'd like to see him force Fudge out of office," James agreed with this idea, while Harry's face was turning more red than ever. McGonagall in her office, now those around him, he really didn't know how to handle people complimenting him so much.

"No, no she's not," Sirius contradict just as pleasantly.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she loses more of his grades than Snape!" Sirius burst out, "and that's saying something!"

They all laughed in pure appreciation for McGonagall in that moment, but Remus utterly took the piss out of it. He began laughing so hard he nearly fell right out of his seat.

Sirius watched him indulgently until he'd subsided into a conversational level of giggling again before demanding, "care to share the joke?"

"That had to be the most insulting thing McGonagall ever could have said," Remus insisted, looking around at all of them like he couldn't understand why they hadn't already shared in the

joke. "You do realize she just implied, as Harry has passed every exam up until this point, she meant all the previous DADA teachers were more competent than her." He paused, watched them

do a head count, and then his grin somehow got wider. Even though they'd clearly taken the hint, he couldn't stop himself nodding and stating, "Lockhart trumped Umbridge, never thought I'd live

hear it."

Sirius and James promptly started laughing just as hard as Remus just had.

"Warms my heart she finally has no response," Lily smirked all the wider, still somehow managing to make herself heard through the boys buoyant giggling.

"Been there, done that," James mock yawned, finally recovering from McGonagall's wit, only to encourage this further.

"Argh, she couldn't just admit defeat and run off with her tail between her legs," Sirius grumbled.

"Toads don't have tales," Remus reminded. "Though I suppose her tongue would fit the scenario," he finished thoughtfully.

"Ah, so by the end of the year then?" Lily happily stated.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Moody took him on now," James agreed without remorse. "If he came out of retirement for the war effort and is helping along Tonks, I'm sure he'd be all the more thrilled to pass along to Harry as well."

"My little cousin could be your partner," Sirius perked up at the idea.

Harry grinned at all of them, wanting to tell them they were getting far to ahead of themselves, but he couldn't seem to pull it together, just enjoying watching them all laugh again for something he could definitely join in on.

"He was cleared of all those wasteful charges," Lily declared acidly. "You can't just keep bringing them up at your leisure!"

"She was one that voted not to have them dropped at all," James needlessly reminded, a dark tone creeping back into his voice. "So I'm sure in her rainbow tinted world, they never were dropped."

Remus cocked his head to one side, then the other, before saying, "nah, can't picture it."

"Don't underestimate her," James scolded, a calculating look in place. "I doubt she got where she was without hexing a few people along the way."

Remus still sniffed, he had trouble picturing anyone much of a threat against McGonagall.

"I'm positive most first years do," Sirius sneered.

Far from blushing all the more as they would have suspected, Harry looked genuinely touched at the declaration. Of all the teachers there, he'd had the most interaction with McGonagall, the good and the bad. If she was declaring this, Harry had no doubts he had gone through with this career he'd so wanted at that age. Though he supposed, McGonagall could have wiped anyone into position for this job, Hagrid could become an Auror under McGonagall's guide.

"Then it's a good thing he won't be around long," Lily said flatly.

"She's mad," James stated.

"We were well aware," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"No, I mean it," James insisted, dumbfounded his friends were missing the point. "Before, we knew she was a tyrannical scum coated bigot, but she's utterly lost her mind!"

"She can't lose what she never had," Remus huffed.

"Congratulations Harry," Sirius said, still a little too wide eyed, "yours was far more interesting than ours put together."

"That seems to happen to me a lot," Harry muttered.

The Marauders looked just a touch frightened at this. They'd never seen McGonagall utterly lose her temper into shouting no matter what they'd ever done, and for this to have occurred was yet a new level of low on that webbed sugar-cookies part.

"Considering who left whose office, I can only imagine who won that fight," Sirius said with a shark like smile.

"Don't start celebrating too early Padfoot," Remus shook his head miserably. He might not find Umbridge the proper threat in being sinister on any level, but he'd never deny, "she does have the power to throw teachers out, and now permanently. I'm surprised there hasn't been another scene of her pressing a boot to Trelawney now that there's no one around to stop her, and McGonagall may be next sooner than Hagrid with this going on."

"She can't get rid of McGonagall," James said flatly at once. "There would be an absolute uprising, there's just too many who wouldn't stand for it."

"I would have thought the same about Dumbledore," Remus said with a creased brow, "but there hasn't been a peep from the outside world saying anyone disagrees with it."

They all paled in genuine fear now. Umbridge had complete and utter control of the school by it's neck, but at least with McGonagall there it felt like there was something holding the woman's noose back. If McGonagall was gone though...

Harry by far looked the most upset at this idea, helping Lily to pull herself together first to keep going. She just couldn't entertain that idea, surely something of their school must remain until Umbridge could be foisted out of it.

"As opposed to?" Lily rolled her eyes.

"Uroh," Sirius winced, for the first time reconsidering himself this idea.

"I honestly think she'll understand though," James said with a sideways look at Harry. "All she'd have to do is work out who you're talking to, she must know Harry wouldn't do this unless it was an emergency."

"I'm not sure I find your attitude as a teenager an emergency," Lily snipped, but there was no force to her words. Harry couldn't wait another month and a bit to see Sirius, or his thoughts about

his father could grow worse. None of them could live through it if Harry somehow couldn't find it in himself to forgive James at fifteen like he was starting to in here.

James felt a grin accompany the light hearted feeling he always got when his son mentioned his cloak. He'd always imagined passing that onto him, seeing the childhood delight on his face and growing up learning how best to use it. Surely Harry couldn't find him all bad if he still treasured something like that same look on his face suggested.

"I disagree, at some point this school wasn't worth staying in," James scowled.

"Right around the time students were getting their hands sliced open," Sirius agreed.

Lily spent a moment wondering if Hermione would have been less reproving of this plan if she'd known the reason, but then, maybe even not. She got angry enough hearing this one talk about one of her friends, she didn't like to think what Hermione would say about her husband in that light, even if she would have said it all herself in the past.

Sirius actually felt like he was kicked while down. "I, I never meant-" he couldn't find the words. He hated what he'd said to Harry then, he'd never want to pretend Harry was James for even a

second, that would not bring back his dead brother no matter how much he wished it, but this was now. Maybe then...

Harry couldn't think of anything to say. He felt like he'd let Sirius down by worrying so much for him, but at the same time could not force the feeling to leave him alone either this was for the best. If Sirius did come back out- he stopped his thoughts cold, he couldn't imagine the worse outcome,

he wouldn't!

"I-" Harry began, but seemed as lost for words as Sirius. His initial feelings for the memory had faded mostly, but he still had no answer for that at fifteen. Here though, the man he'd met, he knew he loved his dad without a doubt, so he did speak with sincerity, "certainly the father I've met."

James jerked in surprise, he hadn't dared look at Harry for that answer, and was so overcome by the shock of that warmth going through him now he was the one who was failing English.

Harry realized he'd struck him dumb, and turned to Sirius, "and I was only ever afraid of disappointing you, because I could never be like that."

Sirius choked how Harry could ever draw that conclusion, and drew himself up proud before stating, "absolutely impossible. You'll always be my godson, even if you'd turned out like Moony

instead."

"Hey," Remus frowned, while Sirius smirked at getting a real laugh out of Harry again.

"Be grateful, he could have said me," Lily pointed out, though that only made Remus look at her with even more offense as she kept going.

"I miss watching Ron stand up to her," Remus said. "I don't think he's done much of that since the Yule Ball."

"I think it's good for them, helps keep in mind how they became friends in the first place," Lily chuckled.

"Even if you don't go through with it," James said heavily, forcing himself to say something that tore at his soul, "the least you could do is check out what the distraction was." He probably wouldn't hear a word of it anyways, he genuinely feared if Harry didn't go through with this he'd really grow up hating him...but he'd never wish for Harry to go through with this either if he had any doubts about Sirius as well. If his own memory had to be tarnished for Harry to somehow find peace in talking to Sirius later, he'd just have to accept that.

Harry laughed freely, but then blinked in surprise as he registered the tone. He looked worriedly to both his parents, only understanding that they were worried about him getting caught.

Lily made a small squeaking noise to hide her glee, beyond elated Harry was pushing through with this. If anyone could talk to Harry now, it must be Sirius, he'd set him right!

"I never suspected it wouldn't work," Remus said with a toothy grin, so much of this trying to cause flashbacks to the time they'd snuck into Professor Eros' office for entirely different evidence of something, but quite the familiar set up.

"Oh," Sirius hated to interrupt even in surprise, but couldn't stop his mouth saying, "I honestly thought you were going to appear there and come back, but I guess this works to."

"I'm enjoying it all the more," James suddenly let out a burst of laughter. "Can you imagine your reaction?"

"It's not a feeling you exactly get used to either," Sirius rubbed at his neck in remembrance.

Harry was just all the more impressed Sirius put up with doing it then, especially repeatedly several times in one night just for a quick chat with Harry like he'd been known to do.

"Seems you actually interrupted him doing something for once," James said with a small smile, at least it was better than seeing him passed out at the table.

Four of them let out a surprised laugh, it was like gaining an extra unexpected gift for Moony's timing!

Remus didn't exactly feel like joining in, but he certainly had a bemused smile on his face for this set of circumstances.

"Worry wart," James rolled his eyes.

"I don't blame him," Lily shook her head. "There's not a whole lot of reason for him to be showing up like that unless something did happen."

"Then you're both worry warts," James decided, while Lily ignored him.

"I don't blame you," Lily insisted while both James and Sirius were fighting back smiles.

Harry shivered deeply, he did not like that response at all! Then he realized he gave them quite the wrong impression, clear worry back at once Sirius may say something all the worse for this day.

He tried to think of something to say, but could offer nothing from his cursed mind.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Sirius scoffed, replaying the few conversations he'd had with Harry in his time, and the thought of complaining of a single moment of them for his knees sake was sacrilege.

Lily couldn't help but pause for a moment to just appreciate how out of the blue this would be for the two of them. Harry had given no indication he'd at all brought this up in the year he'd known Sirius, and now out of nowhere he was begging for answers from them in this situation. She'd be on edge if she didn't know what was going on as well.

"Oh I'm sure they loved that," James ruffled up his brow as he knew that would only feel all the harsher to them fifteen years later. The day had not been one of particular note to the Marauders, but they'd well remember what it was for Lily, and it would only cause a stirring in them for other things their life was now without.

"That wasn't the best way to start," Lily agreed with that protest.

"You try defending this git," Remus tried to poke fun instead of wincing for not starting off that well.

"I'd have thought you'd have more practice," Lily tried to mimic his fun, though both quickly stopped as James couldn't even muster up a smile.

"I'm not actually sure that's helping Padfoot," James told him even as he smirked from atop his pedestal.

"Shove it before I take a pin to you," Sirius told him pleasantly without a hint of remorse, as that's how Harry should always remember a father who couldn't be there for his child.

"Aren't you though?" Lily couldn't help the ice chipped tone.

Sirius opened, then closed his mouth, considered his words carefully for once in his life because of that fragile look still on Lily's face, and stated, "in a way. Seeing Harry like this," he gave a wave to the still unpleasant frown on him. "I'd never wish what Dudley did to him on anyone. I'd never want to be thought of as someone's Dudley, but-" he seemed to have no ability to stop himself saying, "I can't pretend like I'd go back and change anything. He was just as at fault as the lot of

us, and it gets really sickening watching you pretend he was always the victim."

"I never said he was," Lily shook her head sadly, now looking more imploringly at James than anyone even as she answered Sirius. "I told him off weekly for being as bad as you, I just wanted one of you to step up and stop." Finishing with a furling grin at her husband, "guess it's obvious who did," before looking to Harry, who nodded slowly as he accepted all this.

"Probably for everything he just said," Remus shook his head fondly, it was a nice change he still knew what Sirius was thinking on some level, and he could easily imagine all he'd just said to Lily had passed through his head. Even without having full knowledge of Dudley, that accusatory look lingering on Harry's face the past hour in here would be heavier than ever while facing the two of them.

"There it is," Lily couldn't help but say affectionately.

"I'm the one who said it!" Sirius protested.

"I know," Lily told him with a fond scold.

None did in here. They were all used to his habit of that, but it caused a dead feeling in them to suddenly recognize all over again how long it would have been for those two to have seen that.

Sirius's eyes stung hard for a moment. The thought of Azkaban hanging over his life felt like a death sentence more than ever if he could ever forget something so common place of his brother...

"I am no such thing!" James mock huffed.

"I still do," Remus said as if he hadn't spoken.

"On a rare occasion," James disagreed with a nostalgic shrug.

"More for the times where he didn't feel like having to put up a countercurse for the day, then if we still ignored him, he still wouldn't do it," Sirius smirked.

"We never did learn our lesson of heading him though," James finished with an easy smile once again for Harry looking on at them bright eyed for their old life again.

"Usually after the accidents where someone got hurt we hadn't meant to," Remus told Lily and Harry. "Like that time they tried out some new hex on Bertra Aubry and his head inflated, when

they had no clue what it would actually do."

"Hey, we got detention for that one!" Sirius protested, "I didn't think that lecture on using new spells on the students was necessary," he finished petulantly.

Lily looked pitifully to her son. She wished more than anything he'd grown up knowing how untrue that was...for the last few years of her life anyways. She wanted to take the chance and

answer him now though. "You know, he stopped asking me out in our sixth year."

Harry looked to her in genuine surprise for that, as she nodded slowly, now lost back in thought. "I noticed it at once, and I was so confused, and after the first month, I was even jealous. I couldn't understand, had he finally moved on? He actually did it, he went a whole year and left me be, and I actually missed the wanker, well when he wasn't being a wanker. He still had his moments like when he told Professor Burbage the wrong translation on purpose just so he could insult the subject, for the umpteenth time."

Harry burst out in surprised laughter as she affectionately recalled. "I was feeling really alone that year, not having made many very good friends outside of Snape, and now that he and I weren't speaking I'd gone back and subconsciously been expecting at least one thing to remain normal. Potter didn't though, and for once I started watching him instead of the other way around. I saw him actually interacting with his friends outside of insulting the student body, I watched him teach this littler first year how to fly in a secret flying practice because he was crying he didn't want to be made a fool of. I actually watched James, instead of Potter." She finished with a winning smile

at her suddenly flustered husband, he'd never realized that!

She finished with nothing but love in her tone, "that's why the next year, when I heard him talking about Nick's Deathday Party, I put myself into the conversation. I got a reflex reaction," she

busted out giggling upon remembering his face when he'd been talking to Peter about this thing, both had gone silent as if struck dumb. "It worked of course, he asked me if I'd like to go with him, and I couldn't help but say yes."

"You nearly gave the poor man heart failure," Remus told her happily. "He wouldn't speak for the rest of the day, then he convinced himself all the next day you were pulling his leg, then-"

"Let's just say your first date with Cho wasn't even as bad a build up as poor Prongs'," Sirius finished with an old chuckle.

"Then I got to dance with her," James finally got his want back, as she curled back into his side, her red hair falling across his chest as she closed her eyes for a moment in contentment. "Glory I was living a dream come true, still am honestly," he finished with a peck to her temple.

Harry watched all of this as if living out his own dream, a childhood one he'd envisioned many times. Any kid at his school could tell a story of how their parents met, apparently it was quite the common thing for a child to know, but he felt like for the first time in his life he was really getting that answer.

Lily lazily opened her eyes back up to look at his hazel ones, but she did force herself to turn back to the book then. She considered it a mission success, if Harry still harbored any bad feelings towards his father after that, than they certainly couldn't see a trace of them now.

"I thought you'd already realized this from all we've said," James said uneasily, he hadn't been shy of sharing those kinds of facts in here, so Harry's extreme reaction again was bothering him for that.

"I guess I didn't put together how, dirty it got," he tried to explain. "I don't know, when you guys tell it, it sounds like you were just goofing off. That, wasn't," he finished blutly.

James held his hands up in surrender, not looking for another fight with Harry, and if he hadn't spoken both sides fairly enough he supposed that was impossible anyways and done with.

Lily made a very obvious noise as she looked at him, and Sirius just looked at her dumbly.

"Did you think I was oblivious?" She demanded of him. "Yet I also got a far more, perspective look on them," she conceded.

"I never hid anything from her," James agreed, still watching Harry. "If we still dueled now and again, she was the first one at the hospital wing to tell me I was being an idiot."

"Rather than in the bed next to him like those idiots," Lily shook her head.

"I suggested he should once," Sirius told her pleasantly. "It would be the perfect way for the three of you to really reconcile-"

He stopped with a sharp smack to his head from Moony telling him to shut up, sometimes that did work after all.

Lily couldn't stop her throat tightening off for a moment, she could feel the weight of those words, how true Sirius would always mean them. He loved Remus and Peter, but James was the first person he'd ever considered family. She just couldn't imagine for him what it would be like to lose that.

Lily kept reading loudly over her obnoxious friend, she didn't want to hear any variant of the same joke in two breaths, honestly thinking no amount of time should have stopped Remus from losing track of that joke.

"Wow," James said the word slowly and carefully.

"I, think we've been underestimating this crap," Sirius agreed with a creased brow.

"I think Dumbledore was really confident Occlumency was supposed to help more than we were thinking," Remus corrected. "So if we believed him," he trailed off with a miserable shake to his

head, though at least their past actions made a bit more sense now. Taking Dumbledore at word would mean sharp fears of what was happening to Harry now they were hearing otherwise.

"I'm not sure why you stopped him," James told Remus with a slight pout, then he quickly stopped the rest of his train of thought escaping, now very much aware James provoking a fight

between Snape and Sirius would not be received well by his son.

"I wouldn't recommend that one anymore though!" James said with honest fear. Not after the last time Snape had been around Remus, or almost Moony.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Remus demanded. "I can handle myself just as well."

"Sirius has more practice," James said shrewdly.

"He'll sack him?" Sirius offered hopefully.

"How would that fix his problem of, he stopped giving Harry lessons," Lily reminded him of why he was being an idiot.

"I can still dream," Sirius huffed.

Lily still couldn't help but frown at the intensity of that. Rather than that tone, she wished Remus would just explain already why Dumbledore was so convinced Occlumency would work, that was the only thing she could put together for Remus' tenacity of the same.

"Doesn't seem to have had much of an impact," Remus said tersely, clearly Sirius should have been the one to say that.

Sirius looked to him in sympathy, many things he wanted to say to Moony for this moment bouncing around in his head. He wished as much as him Harry felt more for James' last friend, he knew he felt plenty of gratitude that clearly Remus was still coming back in to check on him. That killing blow of a reminder James may not always be in his life left him more grateful than ever to

still have Moony even in this bleak future, but he held himself back for the simple wish this would never have to come true, Remus would always be around for none of this to ever have to be taken place.

"Bloody hell," James yelped in a sudden upsurge of fear.

"Bloody hell," Sirius couldn't help but parrot, but he had quite a look on his face that wasn't all fear for Harry. "You do realize," he told Remus, "he actually didn't explain much of anything to us about why he was there. Just stop for a moment and think what we would have said to each other when Harry just popped out like that."

Remus did smile, for just a moment, at imagining him and Sirius reminiscing for hours about their good times, trying to even move past that and make even better plans for their future. This finally was that warmth they'd been missing between them since that third book, some promise their lives couldn't ever break apart. James had been the glue to pull them all together in school, and Remus knew he'd still be enough to do the same without even having to be there.

"But she didn't!" Lily squeaked in concern. "Now she'll know someone was in there."

"She's no proof it was Harry," James tried to placate, though that made none of them feel better, as Umbridge had never needed more than a passing glance to go after Harry after that first day.

In an honest effort just to distract the two, Sirius instead offered the question, "what if the door wasn't open for him though, how would Filch get in for, well whatever even he's there for."

"If Umbridge sent him there, that means she's got a reason for not doing it herself," Remus reasoned out slowly. "Perhaps in her haste of casting him off, neither of them realized the roadblock of her magicing her door shut."

"He'd just have had to turn around and go get her anyways," James agreed with the logic even if he was still on edge.

"Still a warning I would have heard," Harry told soothingly, he had an odd smile on his face. It was very clear that just talking about all this with Sirius had helped Harry out of his misgivings

with his dad, and now there was going to be something quite savory to finish off this night...

Lily inhaled sharply as she read that. Of all the laws the Ministry had been passing of late, even the stupidest of them all, she still hadn't believed they could ever approve of something so cruel!

"He wouldn't really go through with it though," for the first time, James sounded uncertain, this was just so above anything he'd coped with at school, "right?" He finished pitifully towards his friends.

Neither had the breath to answer him, the idea of actually whipping a student wasn't bearable, and they'd thought they'd hit that limit after what Umbridge had done to Harry!

"Oh no," Sirius muttered, his eyes widening in concern. He couldn't imagine the scenario of what happened for Harry walking in on, but it was nothing good. He'd become incensed over

Umbridge going near Harry, but he adored the twins as if he'd personally gotten to know them as well. The idea of Filch actually-

They were all grateful when Lily kept going even if it was in pitch fear for the twins well being. Then again, if so much as one lash was given to them, thanks to that clock of hers; Molly was likely to appear in the school and start murdering whatever was pink in sight, so nothing too bad could happen.

"They did what!" James demanded, actually wrenching the book from Lily's grip to see this with his own proud eyes.

"Give that back," Lily scolded, holding her hand out impatiently as he reluctantly returned it.

Still, she couldn't help but pause at an all new level of the twins' genius. She'd give them credit where it was due for originality.

"The proper response then," Sirius still managed with chipper even as his eyes tracked Lily's every twitch, waiting for the blow to fall one way or the other.

Lily was as disgusted with Filch as she was with Umbridge. Everyone had always found the man a joke, but now that it was clear he was being given his free reign to do as please, he wasn't just trying to spook kids anymore, he really meant it.

"What on earth," Remus only just had time to string together at what those two were up to when Lily kept going, hardly pausing for breath.

James was vibrating in his seat, the urge to laugh being smothered so he could hear every word almost leaving his head ringing like a gong.

"One last shot of upsells, in case anyone's missed it by now," Remus gave an approving nod even as he felt like his head was floating above his shoulders from such unending feelings about this.

"But by the time they'll be able to go to the store, she'll be gone," Sirius reminded viciously, as the last break of the school year had already passed, and they could not wait for the rest of this book to be the same.

"I hope they never took that off," Harry whispered, blinking slowly at the book as finally some happy memory was restored to him again.

Then they all promptly collapsed with laughter.

HPHPHPHP

Dang this was an emotionally heavy chapter, though good practice for a particular one to come...

Anyways, hope this chapter was worth the wait, but I really did feel like these were a two part chapter more than any others before or after it. Like this and the previous all could have been one mega long chapter. Okay, to the point, I know some people's minds will never change, and they'll always view what James and Sirius did as the worst act possible and they're just terrible people. I never saw them that way, and even if you still disagree, I hope I at least offered a new perspective even if you didn't agree with that either.


	30. GRAWP

You guys just do not understand how much I actually thank you all for the support! Literally, you, every single you that read's this. If you're looking at this screen, I'm thanking you!

To peregrine falcon: Don't ever feel bad for giving criticism, in the kind way you did. I personally genuinely consider all that I get, and you are right, I do get a little too harsh on Hermione and I'm going to try my hardest to correct that more.

HPHPHPHP

"What I don't understand," Remus said in exasperation, "is how Voldemort was even in Nagini's mind? What on earth kind of magic allows that!"

It had taken them ages for the Marauders to finally stop talking about the twins epic leave of Hogwarts, but finally as James made to grab for the book again, Remus chose now to break in

with something he'd been thinking on all morning. He glanced anxiously at Harry, and though he paled and flinched again at the reminder, he waved Remus on with a curious look in place.

"We've no more idea than how he's even alive," Sirius sighed, also glancing at Harry nervously, though in fear for what was happening to his pup, he was sure Harry could handle this

conversation so long as he had them around.

"I was wondering if it was some unprecedented Parseltongue ability." Remus offered. "Nagini was telling Voldemort what happened in such detail, Voldemort was visualizing the whole thing, and Harry just happened to be present while that was happening. Just because Snape said it happened one way doesn't mean there aren't other options."

"I mean, I guess it could have happened that way," Lily frowned as she thought that through. "He'd be learning about this information and feeling the emotions in the moment, so it still counts-"

"but doesn't explain Harry's insisting fear he felt he had fangs for a moment," James disagreed.

"Harry still could have just been projecting what Voldemort was visualizing during Nagini's attack," Sirius disagreed.

"None of that explains Dumbledore's sudden no contact with Harry," Lily shot down. "This must be something, more. I can't think how else to put it, but something new must have happened over the summer, some ability Voldemort seems to have. It clearly does involve Harry in some way, his mind and connection at least, that has Dumbledore avoiding Harry."

"That doesn't track with everything else though," James said in exasperation. "Why allow Harry to even know about the Order if he really thought Harry knowing anything was dangerous?"

"He hasn't let me know much of anything," Harry shot back. He hated having to think about all this again, but it somehow felt better as well. He was no longer in the heat of the memory, being

forced to listen to the idea he was turning into Voldemort. Now he instead got to hear them push around theories and ideas, and that would always feel more bearable, especially when he could

feel they were close.

James didn't blame Moony for the change of subject, that had probably been on his mind since the part before Snape's memory had turned their world in a new direction, and it was a miracle he hadn't butted in with this by now. Nonetheless he beckoned to Harry, "why don't we do something nice for your mum, we'll do lunch."

Harry didn't hesitate in following him out, Lily watching them with a light from. She didn't think Harry felt any ill will for James anymore, but clearly James had more to say. So she forced herself to remain in her seat rather than follow.

When James had said, 'do lunch,' he actually just wrapped a pot on the stove to start heating left overs, but it was the thought that counted, right? Instead he watched as Harry uneasily set the

table. When both tasks were done, lunch was ready, and still neither had said a word, James finally forced himself to just spit out what he'd been chewing on this whole time.

"I am sorry."

Harry looked around in surprise, that was usually his line.

James watched Harry steadily for a reaction, hoping his continuing to bring this up when change whatever comfort Harry had taken in from Sirius, but he couldn't let this one drop without saying his piece either. "Not for that time," he clarified, "I'll never let anyone talk to Lily like that, but I

am sorry I was that way, and it pushed Snape into saying that. I'm sorry if what I did to him really did push him into being a Death Eater, when I'd spent the past five years of my life showing Sirius that would never happen to him despite his family. I'm sorry for the way Snape treats you, that's entirely my fault.

Harry rested his hand on the back of a chair like he needed the support. The realizations still hit sometimes, that he was speaking to James instead of wishing it like he'd spent all his life doing, and now more than ever after such a harrowing blow to his memory was returned. "I forgave you," he told him with confidence. "It's like Lupin said, you were only fifteen. If you guys had just seen shots of my memorie, me shouting at my friends for nothing, Hermione punching Malfoy, Ron's anger at me before the First Task; you'd all be thinking the worst as well. I wish I'd gotten to know more about you, but Mum's right. You changed," Harry stopped there. He wanted to say Snape hadn't, that he was still a bitter fifteen year old treating Harry like dirt because of what James had once done, but the words wouldn't fully come to him either. Snape was still a vindictive arse, but this memory had really charged something in him, leaving him very confused

about his full memories to the man.

James didn't seem to notice that part though, as he roughly pulled Harry into a hug. The absolute fear Harry could have actually hated him hadn't really been felt until it was gone.

Harry returned the affection with a natural ease he never would have believed.

He also broke the hug first, saying, "I'm glad this one should be almost over, I've had a bad feeling about it from the start and I really just what to be done with this year."

James agreed at once, though Harry felt like he hadn't made himself plain enough about that bad feeling considering he was still smiling.

At least lunch was a calm affair, Lily saying they should be able to finish this book by dinner if they didn't have any more long dramatic interruptions which she tried to blame entirely on Sirius.

Sirius informed her she did this too much, but took the blame with grace by spending the rest of lunch refusing to talk about anything else by discussing with the boys anything and everything he could about Quidditch.

James and Lily managed to slip away for a few minutes by themselves to care for the baby, and James happily showed Lily a broom design made from redwood. Even if that tree wasn't native to their land, he'd import it just for his Lily flower.

I didn't actually take that much effort though to get them all back in seats, but they'd switched it up just a bit so now Harry was in between James and Sirius again simply to prove he had no ill will towards either of them. Remus took the seat next to Lily and muttered for her alone while James began looking for his place, "any bets on how long before the next catastrophe takes place in here?"

"I'd rather just pretend there's not going to be one," Lily huffed.

"Joys of being a pessimist, either you expect the worst, or you're pleasantly surprised to be

wrong," Remus shrugged without remorse.

"That sounded more like the optimistic view on pessimism," Lily rolled her eyes while James

began with a genuine smile again.

"I'm so proud!" Sirius squelaed.

"I can hardly believe what they did, the mark they left," James couldn't stop smiling for something so momentous as the twins putting themselves into Hogwarts history like that.

For just a moment, Harry watched them react so proudly to this, he got just a touch jealous. They'd made it clear they were proud of him to, but he'd certainly never felt like he'd done anything Marauder worthy like the twins just had. Then he wondered if this was how Ron felt all the time, towards his own brothers, to his own best friend?

"I can't believe we were so easily replaced with our infamy," Sirius sighed.

"I think hiding our symbol in the Shrieking Shack is still good enough," Remus shrugged, that was where they spent more time than even their dormitory.

"Yeah," James grudgingly agreed, "guess I'm just jealous. If it wasn't for Lily, I'd feel like I wasted my last year at school not doing something as spectacular before I left."

Lily blushed faintly James had actually admitted aloud he'd cooled himself down just for her.

"Oh that's impossible," Sirius said firmly.

Then James promptly burst out with laughter as he kept envisioning the thing, the others joining in with delight. They hadn't thought the twins could get better and they just kept being proven wrong.

Lily gave a righteous laugh, still wanting to punt him from the school after what he'd so wanted to do to the twins, to any student. This was far more what he deserved.

"Well I do agree," Lily nodded, her mind boggling a bit at this stretch of magic, "I'd like to ask them how. What kind of magic even was that, an ever lasting potion, a transfiguration spell for the corridor?"

"I want to ask the twins!" Sirius whined. "Curse them not having done this yet."

Remus gave him a look for that comment even as he did agree.

"The appropriate response," Remus agreed.

"I actually believe that," Sirius groaned miserably.

"I wish you'd summoned it to you when they had," James sighed. "Even if you didn't fly off and join them, you'd find a way to keep it out of her webbed fingers."

"I was a little stunned at the moment," Harry protested, and no one argued the point, as they would have been as well.

"At some point the title could rest in peace," Lily said without a hope it would happen.

"My fingers are crossed for Ginny now," Sirius grinned, clearly the lot of them ignoring her, "she's got potential."

"What about that one lad always friends with the twins," Remus offered. "He wasn't mentioned going with them, but I'm sure he'd still miss them enough to keep up their legacy one more year."

"Guess it's too much to ask you tried?" James asked of Harry, who was already shaking his head in answer even with a smirk in place for remembering the chaos so constantly erupting in corridors

for all this.

"That poor Niffler," Remus said in concern.

"I saw Hagrid nursing it that afternoon," Harry promised.

"I'm glad that spells gotten some popularity," James grinned even remembering the ire of not knowing about it when it would have come in handy.

"Well, whoever said fashion isn't functional clearly never met that trend setter," Lily giggled.

When he wasn't attending tasks, Filch was prowling the corridors with a horsewhip in hand, desperate to catch someone to use it on, but the problem was there were so many around he had no clue which way to turn.

Harry watched all of them shake their heads in disgust for that, Lily even starting to get a nervous tick picturing some poor innocent kid ending up on the wrong side of him, so soothed, "don't worry, as far as I know, no one actually did get a single hit. If ever it looked like he'd pinned down someone long enough, kids you'd never believe did something to distract him so others

could run away. I saw this Slytherin fourth year knock over a statue on purpose after Filch was screaming at a little Hufflepuff girl for accidentally tripping over one and 'destroying school property.'"

As if they hadn't enough reason to smile already, that gave them all yet more warmth for this display.

"I feel like someone got a hold of more wartcap powder," Sirius smirked.

James in particular looked pleased with this bit of magic, one of his personal favorite tricks when people asked why he was called Prongs was to grow antlers on others for answer and claim that as

his signature spell.

"A deadly disease I would not wish upon my worst enemy," Remus kept grinning wider every second.

"I don't know, what do you think would happen if we put Voldemort and Umbridge in the same room?" Sirius couldn't help but ask.

"Either they'll kill each other-" Lily said hopefully.

"Or she'll have a new master to follow and somehow become even more terrifying," James shivered. "I still can't believe she's not actually a Death Eater!"

Harry sighed heavily for that one, rubbing at the back of his hand in remembrance. Madam Pomfrey had ordered whole stocks of Essence of Murtlap and had started handing them out without question, but none of that made it feel better to see others suffering what he had.

James looked as if he'd found a treasure map, ticking off each item Peeves did like a new nugget of gold!

"I'll bet Ron loved that one," Remus got out in between James' breathless retelling.

"I am actually impressed," Lily said faintly. "I never thought he could get worse!"

"I'd be worried if they were," James wheezed, acting so giddy upon reading such massive mayhem he was likely to pass out soon. Of all the regimes going on inside their school, all the hateful new being passed around his son, finally some good was being the cause of it all!

Sirius fist pumped the air in triumph, all of them red faced from laughter and wishing McGonagall was here already so they could give her a hug in congradulations.

Sirius managed an extra hard laugh for that swiff remembrance.

"Nah," the three Marauders said at once, while Harry rubbed at his temple in some empathy for Montague and Lily just shook her head at them.

Then they froze, and looked to Harry like any hint of no remorse upon another student would set him back into thinking the worst of them again. He however only considered this like he did all

their passing comments, just them mouthing off. Even if they did mean it, he still couldn't really care, Madam Pomfrey had fixed worse injuries without anyones help.

"This is true, it's not a good mark for the woman parents have to come up to the school," James smirked.

Remus actually considered that for a second, again remembering the half broken cabinet and genuinely wondering if something had gone permanently wrong there.

Harry suddenly felt a heavy twitch cross his mind, some dire warning he should have paid more attention to this, because someone had...but he tried to shake that off and told, "I feel like he recovered." For some reason though, this only made him feel worse, and they easily let the matter drop, all confident Pomfrey could fix this.

"Oh Ron, the spells not that hard," Lily giggled, Flitwick would probably just assign them more homework practice.

"Why?" Sirius said slowly.

"If I'd guessed, it would have been back when the DA had been outed, but it's been far too long, he hasn't done anything more recently," James agreed curiously.

"Oh, she wouldn't," Lily tried to say even if her tone showed no signs of meaning it.

"I really can't see even Molly doing this one," Sirius shook his head. "I don't remember her ever saying to go after the twins once he got his Prefect badge. She's got a bad habit of comparing the youngest to the elders, but never seems to have expected the younger set to tell the elder ones off."

Harry at least fervently hoped so, Ron most certainly did not deserve that one when Harry was their enabler in all of this.

Harry finally grinned for Hermione again, thankful that finally she seemed to be on their side again in these arguments.

"I don't think that's helping," Lily randomly giggled.

"Did they never ask you what you did with your Triwizard Winnings?" James asked. He knew Harry had never told them, but his friends had never brought it up?

"I guess they just assumed I shoved it into my vault," Harry shrugged.

"This is just getting insulting," Lily couldn't stop giggling even while she said it.

"That wouldn't have been a bad guess," Remus agreed.

"You finally going to tell them, because otherwise that was idiotic," Sirius scolded.

"I wasn't going to have their family thinking they'd done something illegal," Harry sighed. "I'd far rather Mrs. Weasley hate me than think something like that of anymore of her children."

"She's not going to hate you," James at once said with conviction. "The only thing she might be is flustered at the generosity, but she'll just have to get over that."

"Timing," Lily gave the loudest snicker of all.

Sirius burst out with laughter once again, James nodding along and agreeing, "Ron's priorities."

"I can see why you wanted to wait," Remus agreed, "now they're really going and she can't guilt them into giving it back."

They all sighed, not particularly wanting to hear another Hermione lecture about what Harry had done stupidly lately.

"Has that ever helped?" Sirius asked in surprise.

"Nope, but it was worth a shot after the last time she spent a whole day on it," Harry sighed.

"Maybe if she wasn't nagging you all the time, she wouldn't be so offended when you try to stop her doing it," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Oh stop," Harry cut them off with a sigh. "Hermione's a bit much, I know that better than anyone, but lay off her for a bit, I jumped the wrong conclusion that time."

They gave in with a muttered apology.

"Can't say that wasn't deserved though," Remus muttered.

"Why!" Sirius demanded. "He's been tortured enough this year!"

James crinkled his nose at this, saying, "there are far too many holes in that, I'm not surprised Hermione's trying to get the real story."

"That's still not why she was having a go at me," Harry groaned.

"Ah, well honestly this one's your own fault, I could have told you not to bring this back up with her," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Especially as you still have no intentions of doing it," Remus shook his head, Harry's expression made that abundantly clear, and he felt quite sore his warning had so easily been brushed off by Harry.

"I don't know, I can see the good of that one," Lily sighed as she saw some snippy comment on Sirius' lips. "He's worried about his friend, not on the same level as Hermione, but both recognize

far more than you seem to this shouldn't be entertained," she finished with a look at Harry, who also had the grace to look ashamed for never trying harder at this. He wasn't sure if it was his mother's guilt trip, or something far more unspeakable that was causing him to feel this so heavily...

"Brutal," Sirius laughd in surprise.

"But deserved," James sighed.

James stopped in alarm at the noise Harry made, all of them looking to him with deep concern as he groaned with misery, head in his hands again, breathing so heavily they could have been his

last breaths.

"Harry!" James swiftly put the book aside at such an alarming reaction that somehow got worse each time this was brought up. "Harry, calm down! You're going to be fine, whatever is in there,

you are going to be fine!"

This had no affect on making him better, as that was not the fear gripping him so tight he couldn't breath. It wasn't his safety he so feared.

"It's okay, it's going to be okay," Sirius insisted, looking frantically to Lily or Remus to help, but they had no more clue what left him in such a mess. "Erm, what if I-" his mind flagged

desperately for something to distract Harry with, "show you how we created the Marauders Map!"

"What?" Harry looked up in genuine surprise, the pain from his skull not yet fully subsiding which must explain the tears trickling out, but he wiped furiously at them to keep his attention on Sirius.

"Yeah," he confirmed at once. "Something to look forward to!"

James agreed at once, saying, "it took me a few days to create it, but it won't take near as long to recreate it. I've been wanting to show Lily anyways, you'll both get a kick out it."

Harry gave a slow nod, taking easier breaths now as he kept this promise tight inside him. Whatever horrid thing had happened in his past to cause this feeling, they were right, he had something he could cling to now as a promise he wouldn't have to relive his memory long.

James waited an extra moment to make sure Harry wasn't going to set himself into a full blown panic attack before gingerly picking the book back up, almost afraid of what else it was going to do to his son if this topic didn't change soon.

Harry's whole center shook, he looked very much like he would collapse in a fit in moments. Clearly what he'd been thinking at fifteen, the exact opposite was trying to run through his mind

now, and the two together were wreaking havoc inside of him.

James reached over again, grasping his shoulder firmly until he fought back for control, still waving him to go on adamantly for this to just be over with.

"First you were complaining about them, now you want them and you're not getting enough of them," Remus tried to get a rise out of Harry instead of watching him tear himself apart for something he couldn't yet understand. "You never can seem to make up your mind eh?"

Harry offered him a flimsy smile that was as weak as the toddler upstairs.

"Hermione doesn't seem so bad now she's right," James offered as Harry kept rubbing at his temples.

Sirius gave Remus a sympathetic look as well which Moony easily grasped. It wasn't just him being ignored, Harry wasn't taking advice from anyone about this.

"Wow, where's my description of that match!" Sirius yelped, grasping at any pleasant conversation, and this was an easy one.

"Nothing too memorable happened," Harry shrugged. "Malfoy actually caught the Snitch, for once, but he took Krum's way out. Hufflepuff was winning on points, Montague hadn't come back yet and the appointed Slytherin was a right idiot, I don't know what they were doing during training but it wasn't practicing."

"As much as they deserve," James cheered, wriggling in pleasure even as he kept a close eye on Harry to make sure he really was trying to put mention of that Department past him.

"There's the bright side," Lily snickered in surprise, while James just looked bemused at this.

Better than constantly wragging on himself he supposed.

"I can see that," Remus said fairly.

"They mocked him from time to time," Sirius disagreed, "but they were never so bad I think it damaged Ron any more than that horrid song. I don't think they'll make a real difference to him."

"Least Angelina already had their replacents," James grumbled, still wishing it was Harry on that pitch rather than Ginny, he was sick of reading side line events, he wanted to be back in the air!

The boys burst out in surprised laughter Luna had indeed gone further with that idea!

It was as Harry watched this though, not at all mean spirited but that recent memory still with him, that the expression they'd first carried upon hearing of her finally clicked as he turned sharply to them. "Would you lot have done all that to Luna?"

James' automatic response wanted to be no, but he still considered the question for a moment before saying slowly, "ah, well, we certainly would have liked to have words with her, she's a fascinating thing."

"You would have mocked her?" Harry outright demanded with a raised brow.

Sirius blew a chunk of hair out of his face, but didn't deny, "guess it depends on how well we bothered to get to know her. We thought Remus was a right odd ball before we had a proper chat

with him."

Harry saw they were still avoiding the question, as he'd honestly noticed outside their little group they didn't seem to 'converse' with much of anyone unless it was for a motive. Still though, he was just as fascinated they looked a touch ashamed even as they side stepped this. He hadn't realized his disapproval really meant so much to them.

"Ex crush versus ex fan girl!" Sirius said loudly, very clearly trying not to let Harry linger on that last subject.

"Sadly I think Cho's got the better edge, she's played more games, actually wants this position," James eagerly put in.

"I wouldn't underestimate Ginny, we don't know how long Cho's been flying outside her house team, but we know Ginny's been doing it since single digits, she may well have the advantage,"

Remus offered insight.

Harry decided to let the Luna matter go, they'd yet to actually be doing anything wrong to her and there was no sense yelling at them for something they hadn't done wrong yet to one of his friends.

"I wasn't aware they needed an excuse, they just continued doing it because they're arse holes," Lily grumbled.

"That was it," Remus huffed for forgetting.

"Guess I can't blame him for not being in the mood to prank others when his mates up and did that," Sirius sighed.

"I can just imagine McGonagall feeling sorry for the poor kid," James frowned sadly.

"Guess that crush wasn't as gone as we thought," James looked to Harry in surprise, who only shrugged, he really didn't have much of a memory for this game, especially not Cho, though he wasn't exactly sure why. Surely even if he wasn't playing in it, he'd have a care? Maybe Ron really hadn't done any better and he'd tried to block the whole thing out, but that wasn't the right

kind of disconnected feeling...

"Least he hasn't lost all of his enthusiasm," Remus chuckled.

"Why's he trying to hide at all?" Lily asked in surprise. "He's been known to come to a few matches."

"Don't look at us," Remus shrugged even as he looked eagerly at James for this explanation that he had his fingers crossed in hope for.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," James gaped down at this, "but I'd actually go with him."

"If there's one thing to drag away a good Quidditch match," Sirius agreed, though finished rather threateningly, "but Hagrid had better finally be showing you what he's been up to, if it's for anything less, I'll find a way to curse that man through his skin for cutting this off."

Harry merely hummed in agreement.

Lily crooned loudly for the poor dear, all of them feeling a pain deep inside for what Hagrid was putting himself through. He must have a really good answer for this one!

Harry felt absolutely no regret for this decision, even as his face tightened just a bit, his innards promising this wasn't going to be a pleasant stroll.

"Only one she I can think of," Lily spat, "and sadly she might have."

"She can't stop them from going off with Hagrid," Remus miserably tried to argue, already feeling it pointless.

Harry said Umbridge was surrounded by her Inquisitorial Squad like she was expecting trouble, there was a good chance she hadn't noticed them.

"Guess she understands less than I thought, which is saying something. No one would try a prank during a Quidditch game," Sirius heavily rolled his eyes.

Lily began playing with a strand of hair with nerves. She knew Hagrid wasn't purposefully leading Harry to anything dangerous, but this was certainly not a pleasant beginning in her opinion, and it was nice to see the others faces showed agreement even as well used to the Forest as they were.

Harry winced heavily and they all felt the same, maybe leaving had been a good idea anyways, that wasn't fun to think about.

"Now I know he's not thinking right," Sirius grumped.

"He must have just come back from whatever he was training," Remus realized.

"Think he thinks he's finally got it domesticated and wants to show off?" James asked, that didn't feel important enough to be dragged away from Quidditch, but then, Hagrid had different

priorities.

"I still think there's something more than that going on," Lily sighed. "It's very clear Hagrid cares deeply for something new going on, just training a new best can't really mean more than his job?" She phrased it as a question though, none of them were quite sure of Hagrid's comments from before.

"This new thing of his is less and less encouraging," Sirius agreed.

"Why's that change anything?" Remus asked in surprise.

"Thank you Sirius!" Remus said quickly and with such a mocking gratitude you could almost believe it. "Really, just thank you so much for sharing that, I hadn't a clue I'd done it!"

"Alright, no need to get snippy," Sirius smirked.

"What's that got to do with Hagrid though?" James ruffled up his brow.

"Familiar loyalty," Sirius nodded to himself as he explained aloud. "The centaurs know Hagrid's trust in Dumbledore, they'll blame anyone associated with him right now for what he asked a

Centaur to do."

"But it was Firenze's decision," Harry protested. "Why's be mad at us?"

"For offering it," Remus sighed.

Harry felt a deep chill web around his mind, promising he had no want to deal with an angry centaur.

They all gave sympathetic noises for that, Harry even saw some traces of fear in them at the same time. He could hardly imagine the scene himself, but just the thought was giving him the creeps, it probably was terrifying thinking about all this in detail when he wasn't so distracted wondering why he may have seen it in person.

"I'm worried he was trying to return a favor," Lily muttered, still considering Hagrid's injuries. They weren't yet deadly, but if he kept at it, they may keep progressing.

"Oh he'd never ask for your help with that," Remus said at once.

"And those injuries started up well before this," Lily agreed.

"I'm surprised he hasn't created a new path, as often as he seems to have headed to this thing," James said, his eyes still narrowed suspiciously to what Hagrid had added to a Forest he knew so well.

The tense unease kept growing in here, like the book was pressing that darkness out and shadowing the whole room with its eerie vibe. Harry had yet had a very pleasant experience in this Forest in any sense, and even with Hagrid inviting them into this one, they could already feel it wasn't going to turn out much better.

"He did not bring them all the way out there to say that," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"No," Remus agreed, "but we know he finds this more important than that, so at least we're finally getting that answer."

"That's ridiculous," Remus scoffed at once, it was akin to him doing that, and he'd never put anything in her vacinity if he could help it.

"And when has she ever done anything remotely reasonable," Sirius' face was scrunched up for the ludicrousness of it even as he agreed.

"Harry," James said in exasperation, his son should know full well Hagrid would never use a creature for such a purpose.

"I know," Harry agreed with his idiotics. "Reflex question."

James didn't have to think about that one at all as he nodded in agreement, he could respect that.

"Hagrid knows where Dumbledore is?" That one caught Remus by surprise.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the Order actually does," Lily shrugged, "even if we're not sure now."

Lily felt a heartbreaking sigh pour out of her, she didn't want Hagrid to ever feel unneeded! She wanted him in her son's life just for being such a good man, no matter how he was in a class!

"You have such a big heart," Lily told her son, starting to feel a little teary eyed herself for what Hagrid was going through.

Harry had no response for that, he'd do anything to help his friend.

"I thought he said he was going to explain!" Sirius said, the suspense was about to kill him. "He just stopped to tell them what was going on!"

"That's the same thing," Remus told him just to keep James paused for an extra second.

Sirius scowled at him, while James decided to ignore them anyways.

"I don't blame her," Remus muttered, his mind flipping through all sorts of things that lived inside mounds, though as this could be something undiscovered even any of those may not be possible.

James was more in deep curiosity than anything. Hagrid was there, he had no fear Harry would come to any harm.

"Err," Lily began in confusion, sure she'd heard wrong.

"What's, Hermione, on, about?" Sirius said slowly, he couldn't put together such a declaration with just an animal...

"A giant!" Remus interrupted with a near shriek. "He actually brought a giant into that forest!"

James' voice had failed him, his mouth left hanging open so he couldn't have kept going even when the book had broken off. This truly was a new level of unbelievable.

"Has he lost his mind!" Sirius was so blown away by this one he wouldn't even deny the squeak in his voice. "A giant! A real, bloody, giant!"

Harry felt just as numb as the others from shock, but it was his fumbling fingers that snagged the book away to try and force this to keep going.

"It's his family," Lily whispered, her eyes still too wide from shock, but a flash of understanding lit them nonetheless.

"When he was at the Three Broomsticks," James recalled breathlessly.

"Oh Hagrid," Remus groaned in sudden understanding, genuine sympathy now for the man even if he couldn't find the air to really say it.

Sirius wasn't quite there yet, he was still putting his mind into the thought someday he'd walk into his Forest and a giant would be there!

"Harmless!" Lily said near hysterics. "He's been beating the shit out of him for months!"

"Hasn't killed him yet though," Sirius couldn't help but point out as this started to fully form in his mind.

"Was that supposed to make me feel better?" Lily demanded, her voice wasn't lowering in volume and starting to hurt their ears.

"That I'd actually believe," Remus said said slowly, some form of acceptance starting to set in as he really thought past the shock.

"Yeah, I'd say lugging a giant behind you could slow you down!" Lily's voice was still extremely high pitched, but at least she was making an attempt to lower it now.

"Small." James repeated the word slowly, shaking his head back and forth as he was stuck in the same vision as Sirius, their forays into the Forest suddenly being interrupted by a giant crashing through a nearby tree, no one wanted to know how Moony would have reacted to that. Yet thankfully Harry reading was putting a good distance from that image, and James got the book

back from Harry without fuss.

"I suppose, by that description, he's either not fully grown, or a runt," Remus nodded.

"Try telling him that," Harry muttered, his mind still boggled at such a huge movement as his breathing.

"That, is a relation, that makes sense," Lily grudgingly agreed, finally her voice only just a touch more off than usual, but sympathy for Hagrid's situation was finally pushing past the shock. It was the same as always, she trusted Hagrid. If he said his brother hadn't meant to hurt anyone, then she'd just have to believe he wasn't going to turn on her son the moment he awoke.

"Grawp?" Harry repeated curiously.

"Never claimed giants had our kind of names," Sirius shrugged, his brow still set deep in thought, but now he was almost back to normal and could appreciate Hagrid's position at least.

"Poor Hagrid," Lily went new, her voice now coming out in a whisper as now she felt like Hagrid needed a hug, after she popped him over the head for giving her heart failure.

"Who knew Hermione turned sarcastic during these times," Sirius muttered, he couldn't get a joke to his mind yet.

"Good woman, that," James sighed, knowing he'd probably have done the exact same as Maxime, he wouldn't pretend he'd try to handle a giant, even a...small one.

Harry gave a pitiful sigh, he didn't need to ask. He'd been kicked around plenty in his youth but had always returned home because he'd always known he had nowhere else to go. Hagrid seemed to have a gift for taking wayward souls away.

"Well if he was wanting to go back, I suppose I can see Hagrid stopping him leaving when he wasn't around," Sirius frowned heavily.

"Oh yeah, I can see that," James finally nodded at something that made sense to him in his forest.

"Almost forgot about that," Remus shivered, he didn't like the idea of Harry around...Grawp with Hagrid around, now Hagrid was asking them to keep looking after a hateful giant after Hagrid

was gone! How was this worse than the Skrewts?

"I feel as if at some point there's a line, and he crossed it," Lily said miserably, as she wouldn't feel right backing out of this either even with the circumstances. "A bruised rib to Hagrid could knock your skeleton right out of you! I'm sorry Harry, but I'm worried this one's above you!"

James looked vaguely offended, even if he knew it to be true. It just wasn't helping his mind's eye as he kept imagining trying to run away from this thing.

Remus couldn't deny a touch of fascination in him at Harry's description. He'd only heard general depictions of them as well, and though he still had no want to meet one in person, Harry's were always more vivid than usual texts.

"I almost wish I didn't," Sirius grumbled, in this case ignorance had been bliss.

Sirius blanched for a moment, but after considering he told, "no, actually this is still marginally better. I'll take whatever form of intelligence this thing posses over that beast."

"Wow," Harry said towards him, as of now he'd rather have it the other way.

"He really didn't get that was supposed to be a bad thing?" James muttered, that concept seemed lost on Hagrid quite a bit.

Even as Lily shook her head in exasperation for Hagrid, she was smiling just a bit as well now. She couldn't deny some part of her was happy for Hagrid finally having a bit of family back to

him.

"Well yes it is," Remus corrected. "Much safer to be first seen with Hagrid, at least he knows him."

"And considers him his kidnapper," James reminded hollowly. "So I'm really torn here."

Harry still didn't want to say what was really on his mind, he didn't really have a want to see Grawp again with or without Hagrid.

"He just poked a giant!" James said faintly, unable to believe what he'd just said and stuck on that one for several moments before Harry gave him a commiserating pat on the shoulder that was probably supposed to be reassuring.

All three Marauders blanched in shock at the description they weren't taking kindly too.

"Don't ever underestimate speed for size," Remus agreed, James wanting to smack him for starting to sound more interested than resigned like the rest of them.

"I can see how riveted he was by the company," James said deadpan.

"Be pleased while it lasts," Lily grumbled, at least finding some small comfort Grawp hadn't at once started trying to take Hagrid's limb off.

"I thought he couldn't understand English quite yet," Sirius shifted uneasily.

"I can see why Hagrid does it though," Remus shrugged, "that's one of the ways you learn other languages, hearing them as well as practicing to speak them."

"Oh, so now it's a good idea," James frowned at him.

"I'm not saying Harry should do it," Remus defended, "I just understand why Hagrid is talking to him."

"Exactly how old is he?" Lily asked.

"Not sure," Harry muttered, "I only know what Hagrid said."

"He could be older than Hagrid, we don't know which kid came first, though I think Hagrid assumed it was himself." Remus shrugged.

"Either way, I don't see what that has to do with anything," Sirius muttered.

Lily considered this response more to do with the fact Sirius would probably try to do the same thing if he was that size no matter what age.

"How good is a giant's eye sight?" Harry asked wearily, he wasn't going to enjoy the experience of one checking out his hairline.

"As good as ours I'd imagine," Remus scratched at his ear. "Perhaps better, as they hunt more naturally than we do."

"I know I would have protested," Sirius sniffed. "If my name was the first four syllable word he'd said, it could be an accomplishment."

"So does that mean we can start calling her-"

"No," Harry told Sirius flatly before he could even finish.

James nearly jumped from his chair in surprise, he hadn't intended to shout that so loud but he'd just been getting back to a place of normalcy in his mind as he adjusted to this situation, now Hagrid was scolding him!

Lily gasped, watching Harry's arms tense at his side now like he was prepared to pull her away again.

"Oh, he wouldn't have really hurt her!" Remus tried, and failed to say even as he'd gone a bit white in shock. "He might have just been trying to pick her up, out of curiosity-"

"And look how well that's worked out for Hagrid," Harry shuddered all over.

"Good to know of his attention span I suppose," James tried to say around a squeak, there was just no way he could find some fun in this one.

Some color finally started coming back to James' face, Lily was still rubbing at her chest, and the other three were still trying hard not to show they were shaking. A giant. This was a new level, even for Hagrid...

"Now that's pushing it," Remus couldn't quite push into scolding as he was still shifting his weight in unease. "You heard Hagrid say he had full conversations with them, they can be spoken to as

well as a Centaur if you give them half a chance, this one in particular just never seems to have been put into any type of situation like this."

Harry looked at him like he wasn't sure what to say to that. He'd put up with a lot of crazy things for Hagrid, and this one still felt like the worst.

"That one is stretching it just a touch," Sirius agreed. "He'd be just fine spending his days...in a far off proximity, but not unapproachable, if Hagrid shows we're not all bad." He couldn't quite put the right tone into place, he still wanted to rage at Hagrid for putting a giant into the Forbidden Forest! If the name hadn't been appropriate before, it was now!

"There's a giant in the forest," Lily enunciated clearly like they already would have forgotten. "I can't imagine something much scarier, and Hagrid hadn't pulled a weapon on him."

Even still, James was back to bouncing his leg with unease. He knew plenty of things Harry could expect in there, and it was good for Hagrid to be on guard, they seemed far enough away from

Grawp this was necessary.

"Can the Centaurs do that?" James protested in further outrage, that was somehow even more offensive to him than the giant.

"By our laws, no," Remus said carefully. "The Forest is property of the school, so it's technically Hogwart's land...but the Centaurs may well recognize no such thing. It's rather a conflict that's never had to be brought up in our history, for we've never fought over the space."

"That Forest has been there since Hufflepuff sanctioned it back when the castle was being built," Sirius offered to Harry.

"The stories are unclear though, if the Centaurs were already in the area, or if the Hogwarts Founders created it and they claimed it," James sighed.

Lily was honestly impressed at their history lesson, and so apparently was Harry as he tried to keep focus on this and told them how interesting that was even as he kept looking worriedly at nothing. He didn't like this set up, Grawp not too far off, angry centaurus...

"There is no point arguing this," James said tensely. Even having Hagrid describe the fight before had made him uneasy, now Harry may well find himself in the middle of it.

"Hagrid won't really start something," Lily tried to say with conviction, "he'll get them out of there, he's been dealing with this for a while now at least."

"His young," James couldn't help but mutter that a second time, though they'd all long since noticed Hagrid seemed to have as unofficially adopted the kids as much as Molly had.

"I would not call his vague life's a mystery speech profiting," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Not helping," Remus hissed at him.

They all began itching terribly in fear of this fight. It was probably easier not being there, but they could see both sides in light, and didn't care about either! They just wanted Harry to get out of there!

"Bloody hell," James blinked in surprise. Not that they'd ever tried, but they'd have liked to think Hagrid would have at least registered the two!

"I see where he's coming from," Sirius said genuinely, he knew he'd have a few things to say if a centaur had ever told them off for being caught in there.

"But while I admire Hagrid for not letting them push him around," James grudgingly agreed, "it wouldn't kill him not to insult them while he's at it!"

"A little avoidance can go a long way," Remus agreed, knowing Hagrid knew this place well enough he should be able to pass by Centaur heavy areas just like they could.

Harry watched all of them with a small smile of pride in place. As if he'd needed further evidence they weren't still fifteen, but here they were actually speaking of avoiding a real life fight.

James spluttered in surprise, he'd actually forgotten a game was going on!

"Well, I found something to cheer me up next time Ron's goal keeping is mentioned," Sirius groaned. "Teaching abc's to a giant!"

"Oh I do," Lily sighed. In Hagrid's...inflated world, she really did see where he was coming from, but did he have to drag Harry into this one?

"I think the centaurs scare me more than the giant!" Remus shivered harder than ever to prove his point.

"That didn't make me feel better," Harry told him, a still rather distracted look in place as he had no clue why he agreed with him.

"I can!" They yelped in protest. It was very clear Harry wasn't the only one losing his temper this

year if Hermione was going to be saying nonsense like that!

"At least she regretted it," James sighed, letting go of his anger the moment he read that. Hermione did care, she was just scared, they all were at this news.

James paused with his head cocked to the side in confusion, his wild hair looking more flyaway than ever as he shook it and told them he hadn't read that wrong. Hardly daring to pretend to

understand the mix up, he kept going in a slow, forced calm voice.

"No, way," Sirius whispered, his eyes now locked on James with nothing else going through his ears.

"They, used the lyrics," Remus spluttered, a grin spreading across his mouth more from surprise than actual pleasure hitting him yet.

James ignored them both, Lily and Harry were still sitting there with their mouths open in shock as he practically shouted the rest.

Lily squealed in triumph, clapping expectedly and bouncing in place as they all began lauding and cheering loudly. The damn broke, James hardly wanted to finish he was dancing around in so

much excitement, but he also couldn't have stopped yelling the words in triumph no matter how hard he tried!

Sirius laughed so hard he nearly fell out of his seat and banged his own head on the table, and no one stopped to notice that either in their fusing excitement. They didn't have to keep worrying about Grawp right now, this was something so immensely good instead!

"You are the best friend ever," Remus assured Harry, or at least tried to over the din. No one would want to be the one to tell all this to Ron in such a glorious moment.

James hardly paid this any mind, the giant wasn't actually hurting anything in the forest yet, but this was wonderful!

"I can't believe you missed that!" Sirius shouted right in Harry's ear, and he hardly even noticed. "You, you actually missed the Quidditch Cup, and they won!"

"I'm sorry, okay," Harry raised his hands in defence even as he couldn't straighten up in his seat from his shoulders shaking too hard. "I know Ron'll make sure I hear every last thing!"

James suddenly didn't want to give the book up to Sirius. This was fantastic! So many bad things had happened this year, he was actually hoping this was a pattern that was going to keep going, and with his luck Sirius was probably going to get to read about something happening to Umbridge finally. Surely Grawp was the worst thing to happen to Harry the rest of the year.

HPHPHPHP

I was going to wait until all the books were done, but my friend recently challenged me to the Quizzes on Pottermore, so I'm going to post the results in the following A/N's, starting with

Dumbledore quiz, which I got a 21/28. Let me know yours?

*This is one of those spells I genuinely question, why? If you just want to transfigure the cup, then you're in the wrong class. If the goal is for the cup to sprout legs to bring you, like a sugar bowl or something, levitate it to you. This...is just so entirely random to be an actual spell being practiced in class!


	31. OWLS

Sirius straightened up prime and proud, forcing that good mood of Gryffindor winning the match to be the only thing they all heard. Grawp certainly had been, unexpected, but with any lucky

Umbridge would be ousted from the school before Harry even had to deal with him again. Never mind that pesky, nagging question that had been bothering him since Dumbledore's departure, if in

fact being Headmistress would negate the curse upon the DADA position. But no, she was still teaching that class, which meant she'd be leaving very soon...he hoped.

"Considering Prongs was that way for whole weeks, you got off easy," Remus smiled fondly.

"Exactly how hard were you trying?" Sirius snickered, he knew he couldn't relate the two subjects easily.

All four burst out laughing, though Harry hardly looked very chagrined.

"There really isn't a way to ease into this one," Lily grudgingly agreed, "I don't blame you for putting it off."

"Who came up with the revision of that song anyways?" Remus asked curiously.

"Lee Jordan," Harry grinned. "Even after Ron saved his first goal, the Slytherin's tried to keep going, to throw him back off, but then he said, 'he sure saved that ring,' and it just sort of spiraled out from there. Neville told me later he swears even McGonagall was singing along."

"That's fantastic," James cackled at Malfoy's dirty little trick being so flipped by that.

Sirius certainly hadn't gotten to hear this yet! He was squirming with such excitement the words weren't flowing at a normal level and no one seemed to care.

Remus rolled his eyes, finding that the perfect opening Ron had provided, but he'd feel heartless admitting right there that he had no clue what had happened and dampen Ron's marvelous

achievement.

"Good on him," James threw his shoulders back in pride. "I knew if he just held a bit more confidence he'd get it!"

"I can't believe we didn't get to hear more about it!" Sirius groaned as he glared at the pages but just couldn't bring himself to keep that look on Harry, it was more pouting. "Hagrid couldn't have waited just one more hour to finally tell you what was going on!"

Harry honestly agreed, he wished he had stayed at the game more, but it felt wrong to say so about his friend.

The four of them burst out laughing while James just looked bemused and ruffled up his own hair to further their point.

"Never thought my best mate would remind me of my dad," Harry chuckled softly, sure that was the first time in his youth he'd found some way to think better of his dad after that disastrous

memory.

The five of them smiled wider than ever, pleased beyond words Harry was finally able to look back at the lone memory he had of his father in his youth with some actual fondness.

"I really can see why you wouldn't want to put up with her if that's her response to everything," Sirius rolled his eyes.

Remus let out a low whistle. "There's a temper we haven't seen yet."

"Ron's starting to get suspicious," James said in a sing song voice.

Sirius couldn't help a surprised laugh at that description, even as he felt truly awful for Ron.

"Neither did we," James pouted, "so if you could just let him keep telling you about them-"

"James," Lily sighed, "Ron'll have pounded it into Harry's brain by this time, he can share it with us later."

The boys pouted, but didn't argue the point.

"I'd be miffed to," James huffed, even knowing the reason.

"That's a kinder reaction than anyone in here had," Harry muttered.

"That has yet to work for us, but good luck trying," Sirius muttered.

"Well at least she got the highlights," James couldn't help a little twisted smile for that.

"At some point, seeing the depth of the truth is quite awe inspiring," Remus sighed.

"He's already done that once this year," Lily grumbled with a sideways look at Remus they all ignored no matter how true it was.

"A detention really wasn't the worst thing in the world for that, even though the detention itself wasn't any fun,' James shivered in remembrance of the first time.

"Aragog was a bleeding nightmare, but at least fascinating," Remus shrugged.

"They stuck their necks out for Buckbeak," Lily said fairly, "I think that one warrants something."

"One out of five, as I count the Skrewts as no good at all as well," Sirius said deadpan. "Hagrid's not got a very good track record."

"Lucky Ron," Lily rolled her eyes while Harry got a pained look on his face no one wanted to question why.

Sirius gave a heavy sigh, but settled himself in preparation for some boredom, and honest curiosity. He wanted to hear how well Harry did even if he wasn't going to enjoy the flashbacks

of his own.

"If so, then we're likely to never find the body," Sirius said uneasily.

"I'm really hurt you two don't think I can handle him," Remus pouted.

"Oh we know you could match him in a duel-" James waved off.

"We just don't think you would," Sirius kept frowning as he pictured all the ways that conversation would go, and none of them were good.

Lily wondered if his two friends underestimated Remus too much, he had just as much fury at these circumstances at Snape if Remus really thought Harry should be doing these.

They all decided to let the matter go uneasily though, clearly nothing was going to be done about it anytime soon.

"Hallelujah!" Sirius cheered.

"You and Hermione finally agree on something, and you still can't agree," Harry shook his head, trying to laugh instead of letting that headache rise again.

"I don't know what's crawled up my arse to think you should be spending extra time with Snape," Sirius shrugged without remorse. "So until I actually get a long over due explanation, I'm on your

side pup."

Harry beamed at him, knowing he'd never get tired of hearing that, feeling such a thing flowing through him that would never just be a simple emotion to him.

"You know, I've just thought, how was she paying for those?" Lily asked, wondering if her parents were really sending her extra knitting supplies.

"I think she used whatever money she pulled together from that SPEW campaign last year," Harry shrugged. "After that ran out, yeah I imagine she used her own money."

"Fascinating," James said in surprise.

"I'd have decked him," Sirius rolled his eyes at once at the idea.

"Then you'd have gotten detention and still had to do more studying," Remus pleasantly reminded.

"I'm sure it would be worth it," Sirius shrugged.

"Least he wasn't in your house," Harry said sadly, imagining Ernie's doormates had it far worse.

"I would be to," Lily said with a slight grin, she knew she'd been frantic during her exams, now with the added stress of not speaking to her best friend on a permanent basis. She'd been as likely to murder someone as a Death Eater if she'd been crossed wrong at that time.

"There's something deeply wrong with the lad when he's memorizing literally how much he's memorizing," Remus said with a touch of concern.

"Of course he has," James said in disgust.

"From all we've heard about, I can't even say I'm surprised," Sirius with a crinkled nose.

"I'll pay whatever Malfoy gives them double just to flunk him in everything," James snapped.

"Don't waste your money Prongs," Remus scolded, "he'll do that all on his own, and if someone does pass him otherwise, get them fired instead."

James happily accepted this alternative with a wicked grin while Harry started snickering at the lot of them.

"Guess it is some relief half of what that ferret turd says is a lie," Sirius grinned.

"That was not encouraging," Lily blanched a bit at remembering that woman's few appearances and mentionings.

"Glory that woman!" James spat in outrage. Clearly Neville needed his own Sirius around to remind him he didn't have to be like his parents for them to be proud!

"Someone needs to tell that woman in detail what she's doing to Neville," Lily said in disgust, more than happy to volunteer if so given the chance.

"Wait, that was it," Remus yelped in surprise, his pale face having lost an extra few shades at the reminder.

"Yep," Sirius muttered, trying not to glance at Harry, but curiosity won out.

He sighed and admitted, "yeah, we just kind of awkwardly stood there until he went into Potions. Apologizing just dosen't feel right, it sounds empty when people say it to me anyways, but, you

know, couldn't think up anything else to say."

There was an awkward silence as they all agreed there wasn't anything to be said after something like that, so Sirius kept going loudly for this meanwhile change of subject.

"I remember this!" James bounced eagerly onto chatting loudly even if his voice did sound a bit too high pitched.

"Weren't you the ones who spread that story sleeping with black dog hair would give you luck?" Lily demanded with a raised brow.

James no longer bothered to deny this as he had back then, "yeah, even got Padfoot to 'try some' for a day and he answered every question any teacher threw at him the next day. We made a killing in profits for a few hours before this Hufflepuff Prefect Gabriel Truman got us in detention with McGonagall for spreading the story."

"Be thankful she didn't ask where you were getting all the dog hair," Remus rolled his eyes.

"How'd you fake getting all the answers right?" Harry asked curiously.

Sirius looked affronted as he said, "I actually knew them!"

While Remus rebutted, "we all took turns whispering the answers he didn't know. Between all of us, he got there."

"See if I ever do your Potions homework again," Sirius grumbled.

"I'll take you up on that," Remus rolled his eyes, while Sirius winced at his own stupid comment.

"Oh Harry," Lily sighed. "Didn't you learn your lesson in second year with this nonsense."

"I really didn't want to fail all my exams," Harry said without remorse.

"I'd want to see that paper myself before I believed that," Remus sniffed.

"Oh is that all," James chuckled. "We only demanded a galleon a bag."

"It was my fur," Sirius frowned, "I think I should have decided how to charge when Remus tried to shave me bald."

"You should have let Prongs offer some then," Remus smirked.

"It was my idea, I wanted the credit," Sirius huffed.

"There's no pleasing him," James informed the other two.

"Hermione really is handy to have around some of the time," Lily chuckled while the boys stopped their bickering.

"Oh, now there's something really worth buying," Remus grinned.

"You couldn't pay me to eat that for any reason," Sirius crinkled his nose in disgust.

"I'll bet it was doxy dung or something mixed with water," James smirked. "People try to pass off a ton of things like that, a little color changing charm, bam. You've got those fifth years fooled."

"Thank you so much," Harry muttered, agreeing with his mum and thankful Hermione had stopped them if that was the case.

"Some things never change," Sirius said nostalgically.

The four laughed at Harry's relieved look, though they had full confidence he wouldn't really need them.

"We got this speech every year," James groaned.

"Clearly it was needed, as someone tried something every year," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Those are banned from the school," Remus reminded.

"Doesn't stop people from using them," Sirius shrugged.

"Those wouldn't even be helpful in an exam," James rolled his eyes.

"Those are new," Lily couldn't help her eyes lighting with interest, for the magic for the magic of course, not because she'd ever tried to use one just to beat out Potter in just one

Transfiguration test...

"I wonder how badly she hurt her tongue spitting that one out," Remus said in sympathy.

Harry watched Sirius' disgusted face and found it a close proximity.

"Normally I'd shame you comparing the two," James shook his head, "but McGonagall deserves whatever look she has for this."

"Don't tell them that!" Lily spluttered in concern. "We don't need students failing out of spite!"

"We already got them doing that in Potions, no need for the whole school to suffer," Sirius agreed.

"Ha!" Sirius barked, all of them smiling just a bit for McGonagall's cheek.

"Just what I always wanted for my birthday," Harry sighed.

Lily blanched in frustration, thinking surely he wouldn't spend nearly a whole summer there again! Sirius or someone would fight back, get Harry out of there!

"Thank you for that lovely reminder," Sirius sighed, not exactly grateful for remembering that, but it had still been better than Harry living under that webbed thumb and everything else that had

occurred.

"That'll train you not to be as fast as her," James chuckled weakly, his mind still on his son's upcoming holidays and how not fun that was going to be again.

"Never worked on Sirius, so don't hold your breath," Remus shrugged.

"How did he turn the page?" Sirius asked innocently.

"You're an idiot," Lily pleasantly informed him.

"Good of them to have some fun with it," James smiled, remembering that's how they'd spent their nights before exams, trying to make up as many games as possible with the spells needed. They'd been kicked out of the common room several times for this.

"That's never a good sign," Sirius shivered a bit, wondering what new atrocity could be occurring just before this.

"I really wish I could see how much Umbridge has been sending to the Ministry about her improvements to the castle," Lily said blandly.

"I really want them to take a peek at the twins swamp!" James smirked.

"Oh I remember her now," Lily snapped her fingers. "Yes, she was a sweet thing, told me even before I walked out I was guaranteed an O in my Charms."

"Lucky you," Sirius made a face at her, "I turned my pumpkin the wrong color and the man wouldn't stop laughing the whole time. The one time I wasn't trying to make someone laugh!"

"What color did you turn it?" Harry asked in surprise.

"It was supposed to be blue," he began grudgingly, "and yet somehow I turned it black," he finished still fighting back a smile years later at his unintentional joke, and Harry was so surprised he burst out laughing as well.

"Neither have we," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Does she not keep up with the news?" James asked in surprise.

"Ah, okay, now I really like her," Sirius smirked when he realized this Marchbanks was actually just rubbing it in.

Lily felt her mouth go dry with shock as she realized the same person who'd marked her had also done Dumbledore! It really put into perspective how old their headmaster was, how old this

woman was!

The boys were just laughing raucously for what they considered a very good return.

"Not with you in the room, I doubt I could breath through your fumes," Remus snipped.

"McGonagall hasn't seemed to be living up to that one yet," Sirius said conversationally.

"She didn't have any doubts he'd pass Charms," Lily reminded. "Mostly it was just Potions."

"Then it's a good thing Snape's not allowed to set the exams," James huffed, "otherwise Harry would have to beg Merlin himself to get a pass."

"Harry, this is plenty achievable," Remus wouldn't let his spirits fall if this was something he really wanted. "I can already tell you've shown an aptitude for it."

Harry smiled appreciatively for the praise, something warm inside him saying he agreed with Remus.

"I'm sure that wasn't encouraging," Lily winced.

"So he was practicing the Evanesce charm," Sirius offered.

"Why isn't the teacher of the lesson there?" Harry asked, recalling wanting to ask this last time, but he'd been a little distracted.

"Takes pressure off I suppose if the regularly teacher isn't there," James shrugged.

"I thought it was another method of anti-cheating," Remus offered. "Teacher of the class couldn't show favoritism and possibly slip an answer if they aren't even there."

They all released a very surprised burst of laughter as they recalled a club knocking a troll out, nothing more memorable about that spell.

"I hope that's a good marker for the rest of these," Sirius kept chuckling. He never would have believed he could look back on that as a fond memory, but considering everything that had

happened in the meantime, it was almost hilarious they'd once been afraid of a troll around Harry.

"This coming from the girl who once got a perfect score on Charms," Lily sighed. Charms had come naturally to her and even she'd never achieved that.

"What exam was Hermione taking?" Harry shook his head in disbelief. Even after five years, he still felt exasperated at her over achieving ways no matter how many times they saved his life.

"I don't know, I'd probably let her," Remus said fairly. "I'd instantly be getting my results back on what I put down."

"Not worth it," James agreed with Ron, "I'd smother her from stress after the third answer I didn't put down as detailed as her."

"I can see why they were allowed inside for these though," Remus kept explaining without a prompt from Harry. "They get to see your work in class be put to the test."

Harry smiled at his eager tone, the way his eyes shone with just a hint of what they would if he'd been in the back of a DADA hall like he should.

James let out a surprised snort of laughter, saying, "how slow was he going? He was three letters off and still in there!"

"I always said these should be timed, students can't stall and make themselves feel worse for not being able to think," Remus said with just a touch of sympathy.

"If there was more than one, Harry wouldn't have nearly as many problems as he did," Sirius said in disgust.

All of them got a righteous giggle out of that considering the prats own earlier boosting and knowing it wouldn't help Harry at all even if he'd needed it.

"There you go Sirius," Harry said swiftly, as just the mention of the little animal had set his teeth back on edge. "At least you stayed in the right spell!"

Sirius put up a smile for Harry's attempts.

Then they all got a genuine laugh for that one, fondly remembering Ron's broken wand in second year and wondering if the poor kid had been thinking the same during some spell.

Harry frowned sadly, still wishing more than anything he'd taken a liking to one of his parents old subjects, but still smiled pleasantly as both kept beaming fondly at him at all of his progress being so heavily described it was worth whatever grade he got for the attempt.

Sirius frowned in genuine concern for this poor girl still being in there so long! He'd have honestly passed her just out of pity for clearly freezing up for so long.

"Oh, were you in there for that?" Sirius asked in surprise as he fixed his thoughts.

"No, she just told us what happened while crying," Harry winced for the poor girl who hadn't even wanted to go back in and finish until Neville had took her aside and calmed her down.

Sirius kept reading very loudly before his friends could have another go at him for that subject.

All five of them winced hard for the last time this had come up, but thankfully Harry had very clearly put that in his past where it would stay this time, even Lily didn't go as pale as usual upon thinking of this day in light of watching her son relive it.

"Always good to have your target in sight," James said with relish as he pictured a variety of things he'd cast at her too.

"Happiest memory I'd conjured in ages," Harry's smirk only widened in here what it had been at the time.

James was in such a giddy mood for Harry's clear overwhelming happiness at this he didn't even care what was running through her rotted mind!

"I have no doubts whatsoever," they all reassured him, Harry never having felt such pride in his life.

"Sirius, you pronounced those exactly the same," Lily corrected, grasping what words he'd meant by their translations. "Ehwaz is-"

"Prongs, stop your wife before I do," Sirius grumbled, though continued reading loudly before the threat could be carried out and Lily just huffed at him.

"Ooh, snappy," Remus chuckled, Sirius did a rather good impersonation of that.

"I honestly can't imagine her failing any class," James said lightheartedly.

"She could still take Divination and pass it," Harry agreed.

"What kind of jewelry has she got-" Remus blinked in surprise, before they all blanched in disgust and did not want to ask further.

"Not really," Lily sighed, remembering the last time this was mentioned.

Harry frowned in reproach, wishing he'd quit forgetting to avoid Hermione right after an exam.

They all burst out with laughter at that one, not at all blaming him for waiting until the echo faded before he'd said this.

"Now where's McGonagall when I need her," Harry sighed.

"You'll do fine," Lily insisted. "I've seen proof already you can do this if you're not under pressure, and Snape can't do anything to you in there."

"It doesn't mean I'll be getting that O though," he said morosely, not feeling remotely better at how true he felt that was, but it was of some comfort it didn't make the vision in his head of this job dim any less.

"That's a sixth year potion!" Sirius protested this.

"It was a bonus question," Harry shrugged. He got a much more forced laugh from that experience, they remembered this too vividly being a problem last year.

"Thank you for the pleasant call back," James shook his head, still having the urge to be sick at mention of that Basilisk for too long and grateful Sirius didn't linger.

Lily gave a pitiful sigh, having wished more times than she could count her son wouldn't suffer in that class, that he may even have been able to flourish in it if not for that arse hole treating him the way he did.

"So you lot do have a sense of life," Remus chuckled.

"Hermione's a real peach, don't let me ever say otherwise," Lily shook her head for the poor girl so stressed.

"I didn't get a single one, but thanks for asking," Sirius grinned at Harry, who gave his obligatory laugh as he watched his godfather, but hated how strained it sounded for his gut tightening inside him every second. He could feel something approaching him, some mark that left him as unhappy as Hermione at the thought of the end of the OWLs...

The others were just hoping the joke was finally wearing off of him.

"It's good to know Hermione's tutoring had some lingering affects," James snickered in remembrance.

Harry twitched hard at that, and they gave him sympathetic looks for his exams starting to get to him by this time, he'd lasted longer than others.

"How?" Sirius demanded as a boyish laugh erupted. "You've had loads of practice by now just to make it up."

"Trelawney's not even the one there, you can reuse old ones," James agreed.

Harry felt a shot of relief as everyone laughed around him for this display, forcing himself to relax as well and convince himself nothing worse could happen during an examination than that.

'Or even that,' he mentally conceded as the laughter doubled.

Sirius slumped in his seat he was laughing so hard by now, and Harry watched him affectionately trying to force this feeling of nausea to recede rather than increase like it was. It took his godfather a moment to collect himself and brush his hair back out of his face before he could continue, and Harry had gotten nowhere.

Harry wrapped his arm around his torso in pain, smothering a groan as the pressure kept building in his head and his gut. What about an exam would cause such a feeling of panic to rile him up?

The others finally noticed what Harry was trying to repress, but Sirius didn't hesitate in going on very loudly now. Surely it was just exam nerves scaring the boy senseless...

"Don't be ridiculous Harry," Sirius rolled his eyes. "It's June, you won't find that one unless you've found a way to look through the sun."

Harry did indeed look chagrined, but didn't have very high hopes for passing this class anyways.

Harry shivered deep in his seat, fighting back the urge to close his eyes in pain and instead they were watering up. He just knew he did not like this, it was going to cause something so terrible to happen...

Lily hummed at this, no one in any delusion this was what was causing Harry such a stir. It was beyond odd though, what was going on in the grounds at that hour, and why would it cause Harry to look as if in fear for someone's life?

"Oh boy," James broke the heavy silence with dread.

"Got turned around?" Remus offered, a proper joke failing him as they all watched Harry's twitching frame.

"Oh dear," Lily managed a soft whisper of unease as now they were all as tense as Harry. This couldn't be good...

"No, no, no, not again!" Sirius burst in frustration.

"They're, they're not really trying to arrest Hagrid!" James bellowed in protest.

Harry's mouth was cotton dry, he couldn't find air to breathe. He was worried for Hagrid, but there was something more, something that wasn't having him question Hagrid's safety, but some member of the Order's...

"Oh I've long since forgotten about this," Remus snarled in frustration, he knew he'd have marched down there and said something about this.

"Excuse him!" Lily spluttered. "After that kind of noise, I'd be dismissing the lot and seeing what was going on!"

Sirius' foot was tapping in agitation, his eyes peeling words away so fast he wasn't sure what he was actually saying until he felt the reactions of the others and he had to pause for breath and take it in, he couldn't imagine Hagrid going back to that place anymore than him!

"That should really be saying something," James tried to say obstinately, but it fell flat, even poking fun at Hermione held nothing for anyone right now.

"Oh, well, never mind then." James hardly more than mouthed the joke, his every attention focused on Sirius to find what had happened to Hagrid.

"No!" Lily cried in frustration, her arms automatically curling to shield her infant from the outrage around him before she gratefully remembered he wasn't down here.

"They can't do this to him!" Sirius howled with fury.

"As if that's ever stopped them before," Remus said in disgust.

"Hagrid's fighting back this time though," James grimly reminded as the scene was put together in his mind.

"Nobody cares," Harry said through gritted teeth, his thudding heart promising this still wasn't the worst to come.

"A fearsome sight in itself," Sirius said grimly, even if Fang never attacked a single one of them.

Remus made a blistering noise of outrage, that was more than uncalled for.

"I'm wondering if he ever will again," Lily said through numb lips as that kept replaying in her head.

"Wish we never had," James whispered, never wanting to have been there more for a friend than when he was being attacked on all sides.

Harry felt it, that ratcheting fear reaching a crescendo, this was not going to make things better!

"No one cares!" Sirius burst in outrage, hurriedly trying to skip past that interruption.

"Oh now they're in for it," Remus said with a predatory smile. Even without raising a wand, suddenly they were all confident McGonagall would somehow find a way to set this right.

Sirius' heart thudded, and actually came to a stop for several moments. He only kept reading the results of this with the last of his air,

before his tightly drawn face went slack in shock.

"Oh my gosh! Oh, my goodness! No, she, she can't have," Lily was a babbling mess, suddenly on her feet and running forward to snatch the book away from Sirius' numb fingers. Her eyes nearly

burned a hole through the pages, all she could see was red and their head of house-

James hadn't realized he was doing it until the spell burst from his lips, and apparently his aim was quite off as he set a bit of the wall on fire. While the flash of heat went quite unnoticed considering how incensed they all were, James was also forced to extinguish it just as fast before his shaking limbs didn't allow another spell.

Their outrage was ceased by Harry, and for once not the baby. That he was angry was as clear as the rest of them, his face was an eerie calm of a storm the likes of they'd last seen on Privet Drive when he'd thought he was being attacked by Death Eaters, but now it was much more personal. The truly scary part though came from his trembling lip, that fear leaving his pupils blown so wide. They just couldn't believe it, McGonagall was going to live through this, right? Yet that look on his face left the haunting expression someone wouldn't, and they could only hope it was the fools who'd done this to her, what Hagrid had just done would be like Grawp playing with a twig.

Sirius couldn't swallow for several moments, feeling as if his own tongue had been jammed down his throat and he had to fight hard to force his eyes to go back to recognizing mere words rather than the tirade of curses he wanted to rain down on someone. No one was going to live after what had just been done to his favorite teacher! The first authority figure he'd ever respected in his life because she'd earned it rather than making him fear her! Harry needed him though, his pup needed to get through this first to know she was going to be okay and give them a list of names.

"Finally," Remus said faintly, casting his wand vaguely to at least stop the hole smoking. Neither him nor Lily could sit back down, too frantic and needing something to do and listening to Sirius talk wasn't helping!

James made an unsatisfied noise even as he put a tight hold on Harry's shoulder as a reminder he was here, it was all going to be okay.

"How, could, she," Lily was nearly hyperventilating she was so beyond words to express this.

Sirius blinked sluggishly for a moment, unable to grasp back the fact that something as mundane as an exam was going on. He wanted to hear someone checking on Minerva!

Harry noticed in a detached way the students almost excitement for this, like they'd just watched a show.

"She's going to be fine though!" James said hastily as Harry shivered harder than ever. "McGonagall's tough as they come, I'm half surprised they didn't bounce off her like Hagrid."

Lily's eyes burned, he could have showed a little more worry for two of the staff!

Sirius felt his skin crawl hatefully at the reminder, knowing that was still a horrid outcome, but somehow a worse one had happened!

All four of them were surprised at just one passing comment for McGonagall. They'd been worried for Hagrid sure, but McGonagall was their real outrage, and they weren't likely to settle

until they heard of someone taking care of her, though they'd never admit aloud she needed any such thing. Those kids were still young enough though, they were not as caught up in DA as they should have been, perhaps did not even realize four stunners was four times worse than just the single spell. It would knock you back and leave you as injured as any hex with the blow of so

much magic.

Remus got a funny frown in place, wanting to protest that but hard to find the words.

Sirius felt that feeling he'd lived for in his youth, the urge to laugh at such mischief, but it did not carry through into full bloom, not with Harry clearly so worried, not until he knew McGonagall was still going to be around to be exasperated at it.

They finally felt a sigh of relief escape them, Harry's loudest of all as some of his worry tried to loosen him, but not enough. Remus and Lily sat back down uneasily as they tried not to picture such a thing happening on the grounds, but the look on Harry's face somehow warned them to keep on the edge, as he kept himself stiff at his father's side and locked in on Sirius, his heart thudding so loud they were sure they could all hear it in his still thumping adrenaline pulsing out.

That one worked, Remus felt a burst of laughter escape him that died swiftly in the room, but no one begrudged him for trying.

Harry made a keening noise louder than ever, and it was frightening. What worse thing was going to happen than their real current Headmistress being struck down like that?! James hand tightened harder than ever upon Harry's shoulder, but he couldn't even look at him, he was solely locked on the key to this problem.

"You more than deserve that, honestly I'm surprised I haven't heard of this long before now," Sirius looked up and around at Harry, forcing a smile he didn't really feel into place, and it set them all off greatly he couldn't be bothered to return it for a second. His eyes remained distant, lost somewhere none could see, but still his every attention was riveted on Sirius.

Sirius sighed heavily but decided to stop side stepping around this, Harry wasn't going to be soothed until something changed.

Lily shook her head pitifully for this, but she supposed it was the best circumstances that could be offered. At least everyone failed this class.

"I don't even remember that ever being a topic," Remus shook his head too fast, but still hoping some normal flow of conversation would be of some help.

"Now I know you're sleep deprived, it was hags, not vampires," James offered though he had no more clue than Harry, and still failed to get a response.

Lily hummed at the lucky circumstance, wishing as much as anyone this would skip already, that Harry would just get a moment of peace before he collapsed on himself like he was so clearly

fixing to do.

Remus gave a false yawn, glancing around for a pillow though really his eyes never stopped tracking Harry, looking for just a hint he was going to relax any second, realize the danger had

passed at least for one second.

Sirius gave a heavy shiver, he hated Harry seemed to use that description a lot.

Harry went cross eyed in pain, wishing his mind would crack open already and relieve this stress, why had his mind chosen now to bring that up!

"That's never helpful, she tries to remember too much," James muttered something he'd known about her since her first year hoping just for a moment to distract Harry which still didn't work.

"Oh no," James groaned deeply, his hand tightening more than ever on Harry's shoulder, refusing to let go until he knew it was going to be okay. That was getting harder to manage though, as they all finally grasped this must be what had him so on edge, they were all back to that same icy exterior as well. The last time Harry had been so set off, was when Arthur was being attacked...

Harry tried to recoil away, but James had no clue who he was trying to reach for, so he just pulled Harry back tighter to him. He wasn't going to let him go guilt tripping over this one, no matter who was in there guarding this mystery thing.

Sirius finally flipped to the last page of this, his hand as slick upon the binding as it was white knuckled. 'Don't let it be Arthur again,' his mind pleaded, 'the man had suffered enough!'

"Voldemort's, inside, the Ministry," Lily brokenly whispered, this being the first thing she could think of what to connect to. Her fear intensified, wondering how this had happened, there was no way the man could waltz in there and torture someone for this. It may not even be an Order member now, it was still the middle of Harry's afternoon!

She wanted more than anything to stop Sirius, to try and let Harry collect himself for a moment, but Sirius was fidgeting with agitation on the page and noticed nothing, like he wasn't even aware he was reading anymore, just wanting to finish this and know the latest victim already Harry was going to have to find out about in the worst way possible.

Harry wasn't breathing, of that James was now positive. He hardly registered his own fear anymore, was hardly watching Sirius. He feared for the life of whomever this was, but he had eyes only for his son.

James hand fell from Harry's shoulder.

HPHPHPHP

Forbidden Forest, 19/23, the Marauders would be so disappointed in me.

* Favorite quote of the whole series! I'm still in awe I got this far! Let me know yours!

** I know not everyone's a McGonagall fan, but this right here is my favorite moment for her, the same reason I would have Crucio'd someone if they'd spat in her face. You can say what you will

about her odd behaviour in first year, but the moments of her in this book are just pure and utter

brilliance of her very character.


	32. OUT OF THE FIRE

Hickory was sleeping in the bed upstairs on Lily's pillow. He'd been doing this very frequently, though his usual place was up on the mantel above the fireplace. He liked being where everyone

was and keeping an eye on Click, but lately the warmth above the fireplace had not been worth it for all the noise which he much prefered to avoid. He didn't even enjoy the infants company, the

child was always making some form of disturbance and Hickory was only ever in his company when the bundle was garnering special attention or the cat had a want to play with his toys. He'd

been sleeping peacefully in the seldom quite then, until his dark brown fur went on end, and he let out a soft hiss.

Harry was yet even three months old. Things to recognize were far and few between, but he took comfort in the familiar ones. Soft, warm support next to what he'd later learn was called a

heartbeat. Soothing voices he should know all his life. Blurry outlines of faces he knew he could smile and laugh at and always find a return. Yet in the comfort of his crib, in the total silence and separate from his own future, he twitched uneasily now, and made an unheard whimper at his family's distress.

It was a maddening noise, or one very close to a man losing his. James didn't even seem to realize he was making it as it tore out of him. This was too much, he'd finally heard all he could! Sirius just could not be slated to die, not after all he'd been through!

Sirius was hyper aware of his surroundings. He felt the tornado going on around him, their anger at him, at Voldemort, at this very future. The fear; after everything that had happened to James and Lily, how Peter already felt dead in their memories, to hear of this happening again would be too much. He felt it all himself tripled, he didn't want to die! Of that thought he was very clear on, because he'd already felt that once. During those first few days, of hearing everything Harry was going through in his life without someone around to care, he'd bitterly regretted whatever his downfall had been because it never would have felt worthy unless he'd gone out with James.

More than anything though, Lily's tears of resignation, Remus' fury, and James' fear, he was looking at his godson.

This was their future. They had to change it, clearly or die trying. Harry though had already lived through this, and he wasn't going to watch it happen again.

He snapped the book shut with such a loud, sharp snap it resonated through the hole house as he stated, "Oops, did I say something? I meant, and then Harry had an actual nice end to his school year and the end!"

James hit him so hard he may well have a concussion for that one. Glory, the last time Prongs had hit him that hard he'd almost killed Snape, and he didn't like this developing pattern of being the cause of so many deaths, even his own.

He'd been shaking so hard Sirius wasn't even sure how he'd landed the blow. Still, he tried with all his might, just like he always did, "look, we don't have to hear about this! It's not necessary, because it's not going to happen this time!"

Remus could hear what he was so desperately trying to keep out of his voice, what his eyes couldn't hide. Sirius was just as afraid as them, but he was still being their Padfoot as he looked

again at Harry. He wanted more than anything to take this away from his friends, his real family. Remus still couldn't believe the words he'd said, even as his innards solidified inside confirming their worst fear was most definitely their future. It was hurting just to breath he was so scared for his best friend, and he tried for that composure again, that promise this wasn't happening to him yet, but all he could think was, 'not him. He'd suffered too much already. Just let it be me instead!'

"How could this have happened!" Lily only managed the words if she didn't let herself think

about the exact words. "Sirius, you were, how could you-"

"I'm sure I made a very calculated decision!" Sirius insisted, before hesitating and admitting, "turns out I'm just bad at math." He was still trying the hardest he ever had in his life to keep talking, keep making words come out despite the fact he couldn't feel anything but numb shock, all the while trying to reach for his wand while he had their attention and subtly banish this one from sight for good.

Harry had been watching him in a sort of detached horror, his mind couldn't cope with what he was hearing and make it through, or he may well end up like his dad who still wasn't at any

recognizable human level of emotion from all this. Instead, more as if a demon was possessing him, he reached forward and took it out of Sirius' grasp before a spell could be done to it.

Sirius fought back though, keeping it firmly in his grasp and starring Harry down. "It doesn't matter Harry," he stated clearly now that his front had been ruined over their tug of war. "I'm not going to watch you live through that!"

"I have to," Harry said simply.

It certainly was no want. He'd love nothing more than to skip right to his sixth year, to hear of Sirius dropping him off at the train again and there was some simple explanation and everyone made it out alive; or just to pretend altogether none of this had ever happened, this was someone else's horrific life where everyone he ever cared about seemed to die.

Instead, he'd meant that with every part of him, he had to. That drive that had pushed him through his loveless childhood, the same determination that helped him not to murder Sirius when he had doubts the man had killed his parents, the strength that kept him alive while facing a powerful Voldemort for the first time in his life. The fifteen year old from his past was still shaking with fright and screaming to just let Sirius do this, he didn't need to know the details! Maybe it was some left over hope his godfather would make it out of this, or more likely it was that his head was likely to come free of his body if the warning pain was any indication he couldn't live through not knowing. He didn't think Sirius really could either no matter what he said.

So Harry won, he got the book away from him, and the worst consolation prize in his life began.

It was abundantly clear no one was taking in an actual word of what Harry was saying, he could have been reading to that Mirror of Erised from so long ago, though he liked to think his deepest

desire would never be seeing them looking at him like he was the one putting a wand on Sirius. He understood why of course, it probably felt like a genuine betrayal that he was forcing them to

sit here and listen to this, but he just couldn't do this one alone. Even if they hated him for it, the words kept tumbling out, past the guilt, the fear, everything, he had to know! Surely they must understand that...

It was actually impossible for Lily to go backwards, think what had started all this and put together what Harry was saying! She kept seeing it in her mind, Sirius had been making trips from that place and she couldn't even blame him, but now one too many times had finally been his last...

A splutter of life tried to appear in Remus for a second, as he clung to one tiny ray of life that McGonagall no matter what state she was in would make this right, somehow...

"Stop!" James found his voice again and it was just as wretched as the noise he'd been making. "Stop, stop it, I don't know how to handle this!" He pleaded. James Potter actually pleaded as he

stormed out of the room.

He wasn't naive, the possibility of this had been alive since Sirius had been forced into Grimmauld place. He just couldn't stand imagining it! His lungs seemed to have vanished, he had no clue where he was seeking out, blind detachment the only thing getting his feet moving until he collapsed in a chair that moved rhythmically beneath him and he realized he'd moved from pure

memory to collect his infant and sit in the rocking chair in his room.

There was a soft knock on the door behind him, but he ignored it, and whomever it was blessedly went away. He didn't want comfort right now, and no one could actually offer any. So he simply

rocked his precious life for a moment, crooning to him through a few sobs, and just let himself breathe without forcing anything out, trying to cover anything, he let his mind wander wherever it

had to.

James had thought he'd been handling himself quite well. His son the same age as him had crashed into their kitchen without memory but they were all abruptly informed he and Lily had a year left to live, okay, they could fix that! One of his best friends in the world, his brother in all the ways that mattered, was the cause of that death! He could cope, he still had his real friends, they still had time to purge this problem! Voldemort was only going to be gone from his son's life for thirteen years before his only child was forced into helping that resurrection! He'd find a way to live through that just like Harry had!

This time though, this one was beyond him to understand. He'd been forced to come to the early realization everyone he loved died except his son and he'd managed that because they'd started the Order with the understanding they may not all have come out. Then he'd realized that hadn't been true, and now he didn't know how to reach back and grasp that this was all going to be okay again with Harry watching this time.

That was the real kicker, that any moment he went back down, Harry was going to slip back into Voldemort's consciousness or whatever was going on and his son was going to have to watch.

That Sirius was slated to die defying Voldemort was probably the most likely outcome he'd have expected, it filled his mind with ice he couldn't think past and made his ribs feel as if they were

crushing him from the inside, but that he could at least handle just as he had with the information of his own death, that was the only way to go as far as he was concerned. No, it was his own son having to watch it, to all but feel the pleasure it would cause the Dark Lord.

He kept brushing his son's hair back, the scar not yet present on him, his eyes open and looking curiously with his wife's eyes mirror imaged into his face. He didn't know how to handle looking

at Harry now, didn't know how to help him with this.

He'd been there for Sirius for everything, he'd been the one to first offer Animagus to help Remus, he'd been Peter's comfort when he'd broken up with his girlfriend of three years because Prongs knew how to handle everything. He'd been there for Lily's pregnancy even when she hadn't wanted him around, but now he had nothing for his only child.

James didn't want to come out of here until he had an answer for that, he felt like a failure all he was capable of doing was sitting there and listening. He knew he was only going to get through it himself by keeping his brother under his arm, know he was breathing right beside him until they could find a way to stop this and make sure it never happened this way if they could help it. For Harry though, it had already happened, and he didn't know how to help.

Harry trudged uneasily back down the stairs, honestly a bit relieved his dad had ignored the door as he still didn't know what he'd been planning on saying, but he'd still felt like he owed him something, some way to apologize for putting him through all this, through his own life. He stopped halfway down the stairs though, and just sat there, gazing into the living room through the bars of the banister, pressing his forehead to them as he watched Sirius still trying to chat enthusiastically towards Remus and Lily like this was nothing. He was perched on the table right in front of them, using his hands to vividly describe something, but the words were a blur to Harry, he was just watching his godfather. So full of life, far more than he'd ever known in his own time.

Remus sat and watched Sirius talking at them as if from a great distance. Whatever Padfoot was trying to convey wasn't getting through, and he wanted to honestly knock him on his head even if

he did admire how blase he was forcing himself to be about all this, he knew he'd be a hysterical mess if he'd just heard the same. Harry had just realized McGonagall couldn't help, no one could, if Sirius wasn't already doomed than he would be long before anyone from the Order made a check on him, like his own useless arse. He couldn't believe he'd let this happen to him, and if he wasn't dead from having tried to stop all this, than his life really was an utter waste.

Lily wasn't listening either, though Sirius seemed blissfully unaware of his inattentive audience. She kept watching Harry on the stairs, eyes only on his godfather, the only person who'd ever been there for his life. The pain of losing him once would have been the worst of his life, which was really saying something after all he'd been through, now he was being forced to do so again. Her mind felt like a broken puzzle with all the pieces missing but the very edges, she tried to force herself to put something together that would make this all okay and kept coming up with nothing.

Sirius was well aware his enthusiastically chatting about what even he wasn't sure was not helping anyone, even himself. He was just talking, because if he stopped he'd be forced to come back and realize he'd have to keep listening, and glory he still didn't understand why Harry was doing this to himself. Remus was beside himself with anger for all this so he was no help, so when he finally followed Lily's gaze and saw him again, he cut himself off mid sentence and went over to Harry, flouncing down next to him and stating, "fancy seeing you here!"

Harry met his solid gray eyes and forceful smile, and just shook his head in exasperation. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?" Sirius batted his eyes innocently, honestly he was just pleased to have gotten a response.

"You act like, and don't kid yourself Sirius I know it's an act, but you're really trying to convince me you're okay with this?"

Sirius released a huffy breath, tipping his face up to the ceiling so Harry couldn't find the lie, "what can I say, I'm going out doing the exact opposite of what my parents always wanted, it's like a dream come true!"

"You use that alot," Harry accused, "but I know you better. Why can't you just say you're proud of yourself not letting Voldemort win?"

Sirius' smile remained flippant even as he looked back to Harry, his eyes softened with agreement. "Wasn't quite sure you'd get that Harry, thought you'd just be mad at me for my excursion from

Grimmauld place like we all know I've been doing." He watched Harry closely, and was surprised at the look flitting across his face, his hand jumping to his temple now trembling all over again. There was something of what Sirius said that wasn't quite in line with this-

"But even that's not really it. It's still, more like a dream to me. A nightmare I'll give you, but if I let myself panic that's how my future ends than that also means I'd have to accept I spent twelve years in Azkaban and that's not something I'm going to let happen, especially now that I can get myself out of there just as fast. You're here now Harry, sharing all this with us, and we've learned the worst of it. So now, we can stop, and we can fix it!"

Harry wished he could agree with him, that he could just so easily let this go, but there was something bothering him now more greatly than ever. 'A dream, a nightmare really...'

"I'm sorry Sirius, I just can't! I have to know what happened to you! You understand that, right?"

Sirius met his eyes steadily. He saw guilt heavy in Harry, like somehow even now he was blaming this all on himself when it had been Sirius' decision to leave that place. Harry wanted

details of that blame, to further pin himself with, and Sirius wasn't happy giving that to him, but then he realized what he'd already known the moment he looked into that kid's face, it was nigh impossible to deny him anything. It was going to kill him faster than any spell Voldemort could use on him, but the larger part of him only caved because he wanted to be there for Harry. Like he couldn't have been back when he was fifteen, because he'd been selfish and taken off out of that house and gotten caught like an idiot. Harry had every right to hate him, this was more his fault than anyone's for putting Harry through this, so he'd give Harry the chance to tell him just that when he realized it.

He gave in with a long suffering sigh, telling him, "alright, let's go fetch Prongs then, convince him the weight of the world isn't all on him, I really wish that was one trait you hadn't inherited."

Harry hesitated to follow Sirius back up the stairs, but Sirius was still waving his hand with a heavy exaggerating motion for Harry to come along. If he couldn't convince Harry to drop this,

than he at least was trying to convince himself being there for Harry now while he had to hear about this would somehow make it bearable, while he still had the chance.

Sirius did no such thing as knock, once he'd gotten Harry to his feet and they'd gone back to the stairs. He walked right in, and grabbed his brother by the scruff of his shirt and tried to pull him to his feet as much as he could while still minding that was his nephew in his lap. "Come on Prongs," he clapped his hands and used his 'we're fixing to go down for a day long Quidditch

practice voice.' "I know you've contemplated killing me a thousand and one times, so this is a grave disappointment to you with someone else doing it, but I know you'll find a way to live with it."

James eyes were bloodshot as he glared up at Sirius and said flatly, "you're an arse."

"I'm your arse," Sirius agreed. "Why else would Evans' have fallen for you? Certainly not that face."

Harry continued watching Sirius like he'd lost his mind, but the joke won out as James let himself be dragged to his feet just so he could give a halfhearted nudge at Sirius' ribs as he passed. He hesitated at the threshold, but then Padfoot prodded him in the back, and Harry was trying to go ahead while glancing back at them like he hoped Sirius would change his mind about this any

second.

Fine then, James decided, he'd find a new way to be there for Harry, deflecting Sirius for Harry. That's what he was best at, nobody could take that away from him.

Lily had been trying to force herself to go up the stairs, but she was trembling so hard Remus was watching her in concern when she couldn't get past the first step. She was afraid to look Sirius in the face again, or she'd start ticking down the seconds he had left. She was terrified of looking at Harry and see his world being so utterly broken. She couldn't even begin how to comfort her husband as basically his worst thought kept coming to live in this print, but that wasn't going to stop her from trying!

The moment she did catch sight of them though, she tried to dart up to meet them, all action pumping back through her now that they were back in front of her, but Sirius waved her off.

"Nope, no more running up the stairs, especially you Evans."

"Potter," James corrected automatically, and Sirius grinned where he couldn't see that he'd gotten his response lacking from before.

James was ignored anyways.

"You wouldn't let me skip the dragon chapter! This is my revenge."

"Oh, we get to hear Harry see you die instead, that's so much more pleasant!" Remus snarled, forcing himself not to shout that in his face as Sirius waltzed over to him hands on his hips.

"It wouldn't be revenge if it was pleasant," Sirius said with chipper as he met his hard eyes. "Now Moony, be a dear and move," he gestured back to where he'd been sitting.

"You're so bossy, telling me and Prongs to move at the same time," he huffed as he finally forced himself to get up as well but crossed his arms and now glowered down at Sirius, being taller than him rarely had an advantage and this was one that never worked.

Sirius turned away without concern as he pushed the table out of the way, and then magicked the two sofas so the cushions were facing each other and it was all one giant seat, then he threw

himself over the edge and splayed out inside leisurely. It was reminiscent of their old dorm room, and Sirius would frequently push all the beds together then as well. He claimed to do it so he had more space to stretch out and kick Peter and Remus when they snored, but this always tended to happen on the nights his parents had sent him yet another letter full of something nasty, so they'd rarely argued the point. "I remember you lot panicking back in Harry's third year thinking I was going to kick the bucket then to, might make you all less jumpy if there wasn't a huge space, nah I'll make it easy on you and I'll sit in the middle."

"Now we all get to smack him at once, I like this idea," Lily huffed, reaching down to do just that. He'd threatened to rearrange her living room weekly because of some reason or another, and now he'd finally gotten his way and she couldn't even argue the point, damn this man.

The others didn't argue anymore either, as they all piled in with no real order anymore, they were all just kind of bunched around. James jumped in last with the least enthusiasm, still clutching his son tightly to him and giving Lily an apologetic look for this. "Sorry, I'm sure you don't want him down here, I just couldn't-" he broke off, but Lily understood. She saw the frantic look in his eyes, he was only holding himself together because of his innocent child.

Lily only reached over and took his hand in a silent promise this was all going to work out as Harry pulled the book away from Sirius, he still wasn't going to let anyone do this but him, though that argument would probably come up again at the end when this was over.

James muttered anxiously a bit more. They'd all felt the harsh weight of what had happened to McGonagall, and now somehow it all felt even worse when they needed her now more than ever.

Sirius wished he could offer some word of comfort, but at this point he knew how hollow it would feel, and he worried it would only make it worse.

Even as Harry read it he could feel that tightening of his breath, he'd never wanted to imagine the school without her and what would become of it, and now he was living in a nightmare in his mind.

"I'm sure everyone else feels that way." Lily said bitterly.

"We're lucky the school hasn't emptied out from people in protest and only the Inquisitorial Squad was left." Remus huffed.

Both found it immensely hard to claim at normal words rather than continuing to scream in fear, but somehow, so long as they just kept talking, this just had to feel better.

"Harry, you're going to make yourself sick," Sirius tried to pleadingly cut him off again. No matter how much he insisted he had to do this, Sirius couldn't stand watching him spew out the words in pain.

Harry could not ignore Sirius even if he'd wanted to, he'd never wanted his godfather around more in his life and now he was being given the gift of being right next to him, but that didn't stop him pushing past his discomfort, he just hoped he wasn't going to vomit on them all at once in the process to keep going.

Darting back through faster than he ever had in his life, he was back in front of the Entrance Hall where Ron and Hermione were searching anxiously for him, and he dragged them to the nearest available vacant room before telling them Voldemort had Sirius.

Hearing it said like that, put so bluntly for his own ears, Sirius sat deep into his seat and run his hand down his face. It was fear, anger, desperation that had his knees dragging up to his chest, making several tight throat noises. He hated seeing what this was doing to his family, he couldn't stand watching Harry go through this when likely the only thing keeping him going face to face with Voldemort was the knowledge Harry was far away from this and safe.

The truth hit them all, like a blow ready to topple the whole house. They looked from Harry, to Sirius, and they knew.

"No, no, Harry," Lily couldn't help pleading against the universe. "You can't go! That's-"

"I don't care," Harry said, his voice steadier than it had been since the vision. "I don't regret this," the truth of that at least put some center back in his life. "I had to help him," that though nearly broke something inside him permanently, and he had to use every ounce of self control to stop himself. The guilt was instantly coming back, and he feared his mind was only trying to hide the knowledge that he would be too late.

Lily's panic stilled, and she understood. She couldn't have sat idly by either, none of them would have, no matter what.

James had to make sure Harry knew this as he told him, "I know Harry. You've done the same I would do over and over again."

"We've certainly had enough practice at it," Remus muttered, he hadn't stopped shaking this whole time, but his voice swore nothing but a steady hand.

Sirius couldn't find it in himself to be angry at Harry like he should have been, he couldn't fault him for doing exactly what he'd have done as well in roles reverse. He looked up and shook

himself off, his only regret being he probably hadn't a chance in his own time to tell Harry how proud he was, so he corrected that in here.

Without wanting it allowed for a single second, they all began to almost hope again. Harry would get there, he'd figure this out and he'd confront Voldemort and Sirius would get out of this!

Harry didn't know what to say, he most certainly had no sense of the same thing they were all trying to hide from him. He certainly didn't feel like he deserved it. In his panic hued mind, he just knew their comfort for him wouldn't last, though at this point it was impossible for this to get worse.

"Yes, because facing Voldemort at eleven over a Stone was fun, but now it's a little more overwhelming," Remus snapped.

Sirius gave him a hard nudge, he wouldn't begrudge anyone not wanting to go on this suicide mission for him, and he wouldn't let anyone else either no matter how much it hurt him if he'd

really lost Ron and Hermione's loyalty somewhere along the way, he never thought he'd gotten that bad...

Lily shivered hatefully as well as she tried to concoct scenarios for that, of Death Eaters and disguises and powerfully deep magic of a compliant Sirius up until the point it was no longer

needed. She did not blame Hermione wanting to understand, but hopefully her priority would be as it had always been, helping those who needed it; though she instantly regretted the thought.

Harry was safe and alive, but was she? Ron? If Harry managed to save Sirius' life but got his friends killed in the process, somehow she knew how much worse that would feel, and her heart

burned already at just the thought.

"Yes he has," James ground out, forcing himself not to start shouting at someone who wasn't here. "Once I'll give, but-"

"Stop James," Lily whispered quietly, putting her shaking hand over his. Clearly he hadn't been doing a very good job of that not shouting thing, as he realized his infant was squirming in

discomfort in his grasp. He cradled his son, murmuring to him gently for a moment and only when he'd been soothed did Lily continue. "She's only trying to help, in her own way. She dosen't want this to be true anymore than us."

"Dosen't make this anymore helpful," James seethed, his vision still flashing red, but he couldn't seem to keep going anyways.

"Has she really believed that, because I was almost happier not," Remus said deadpan. It had been the only way he'd been coping with Sirius trapped back in that place at all hours, the thought of him getting out now and again, probably when he'd come over for a chance. He couldn't imagine how miserable his last friends life would have been in that past year, and the idea of him ending now, after all that, it wasn't bearable!

"We know he's already tried to use one Order member and someone who works in the department, it does seem the criteria is a bit off," Lily agreed. Though she in no way begrudged Hermione questioning this like the boys so clearly did, she wished Hermione would do this on the way or something. She hated how Harry continued to look more sickly by the second, how he

was likely to pass out or start crying, screaming, anything, but instead he kept pressing more words out as his only way to cope, and that was going to run out, they wouldn't let him say the

words.

"But I haven't spoken to Regulus since he was sixteen," Sirius shook his head for that, "and he's certainly never mentioned anything like this. Last I heard our parents were only wanting him to join up as well, he hadn't even gotten in quite yet, though he'd hardly said he didn't want to," he finished bitterly, wishing he had a chance to understand that more. What had changed about Regulus he'd gone from severing his brother from his life for not wanting this, to trying to leave himself? While dead depressing to consider, somehow questioning this was helping him be a little more okay with his own, he certainly loved that the both of them would go out defying Voldemort in some way.

"I think Ron's made some good point though," James whispered. They'd thought all this had been for Sirius' own good, but was there some other reason going on there? Maybe not exactly as Ron

had offered...

"Is his word not proof enough?" Remus demanded, looking very near murderous himself now.

"Moony," Sirius tried again.

"No!" Remus barked. "I am sick and tired of her demanding every answer! If you died because she was sitting around-"

"Remus," Harry cut in. He was not saying all this with the same anger had had in his youth at Hermione, and they just thought that was because he had Sirius with him now. That didn't mean

he was going to let them berate his friends who weren't here.

Remus bit his tongue hard to stop himself going, admitting this wasn't helping either. Honestly he may have just been delaying, as he didn't want to hear the final blow when it would come no

matter who had done what.

"Oh, that was entirely the wrong thing to say," Lily rubbed at her temple. She knew she could see Hermione's point here, she was trying to protect Harry and stop him from going, but that had been entirely the wrong way to do it.

James and Remus only stopped themselves ripping Hermione's head off for Harry's sake, that was not a trait they'd ever accuse him of when they found it one of his most admiring qualities

considering his past, now it was being put to use to save their brother!

"Clearly not enough, as she's still talking," James said through gritted teeth.

"Then she'd better get to her point bloody fast," Sirius shook his head at her for this. If Hermione didn't want to help, then fine, but goading Harry like this was only going to make things worse.

"Does she really think you'd care?" Remus said aghast. How well did Hermione even know Harry, to really think that would stop him at a time like this?!

Harry wasn't shouting now, his voice kept getting quieter with repression of all he was feeling, and nearly died right then and there. There was something there he was missing, something it was

impossible to concentrate on, and it helped nothing the panic and anger around him could offer nothing but fueling his own. Normally he found comfort they all cared so much to be feeling the same, but Harry suddenly wished he could claim some distance from this, just some time to think or he was really going to regret this...

"I don't understand how she can think that!" James snarled with frustration. "Either she thinks he should have been learning Occlumency to stop seeing this, or she thinks he's losing his mind! She just said this could all be one plan, but now she's going to back saying it isn't even happening with nothing to back that up! Now is not the time for her to be flipping to one or the other at her choosing!"

Harry's shaking was increasing with every fiery word James spat. James wanted to keep shouting, to vent and rage at someone for putting Sirius into this situation, for Harry having to live through it twice now because of all this, but he probably couldn't have even if he'd wanted to, he was long since living off of reserve air since it didn't feel like there was any in here. since living off of reserve air since it didn't feel like there was any in here.

"Yeah, don't turn on the one who's actually trying to be of help there," Remus spat, though Harry flinching made him instantly regret the harsh words pouring out.

"Now who's creating facts, twisting up her own opinion," James seethed while Lily's hands tightened around his, both were trembling so much James lowered their baby into his lap so he

wouldn't feel it as much. Now cushioned in his father's lap, it gave Lily the opportunity to brush at James' jaw, and sooth him for just a moment so he wouldn't keep making this worse for Harry

arguing with someone who wasn't here.

"I don't know if you'd win that actually," Sirius sighed as he watched Harry, who looked up at him wild eyed. "Well I'm certainly not going to tell you off for what I'd have done in a heartbeat, but I won't say either I wanted you to see this! To know you-" he broke off, with a desperate look Harry understood. If Sirius' worst nightmare was going back to Azkaban, than it was his waking torment having to see Harry watch this happen.

For just a moment, Harry agreed, he wished he had never seen this, and it was breaking something inside him to keep going with this knowledge.

"Oh, I wonder why that is," Lily rolled her eyes, the movement feeling very forced in her tense face. No one wanted anymore distractions, which was exactly what this felt like. Now it was more of a curse of delaying the inevitable, whatever that was, and this wasn't helping.

"It's a waste of time," Remus hissed. "Harry's word should be good enough!"

"I'd just go without her and screw her non help," James agreed furiously. "When's she ever been there when Harry really needed her! He's always done this on his own-"

"Stop," Harry snapped, some of that anger from Hermione being pushed at them now. "It's not their fault I've always had to do this alone, I'm grateful for once in my life they are around! If this is what it takes to get Hermione to help than I'll do whatever she bloody asks, I need her."

James cursed several times in agitation, both in language and spells, though since he wasn't holding his wand now at least nothing was happening. He was beyond angry, frustrated, and a

million other things at having to hear about this and he had no patience to put up with Harry's friend right now, but clearly he wasn't getting a say in the matter.

Lily was growing worried Harry wasn't acting the same way now as he had at fifteen. She wasn't sure she wanted to understand why, why was he still stuck on that resigned fear he was struggling

so much more to shake off into anger like he had then?

"I love this girl," Remus sighed. There was the proper response, why was Hermione missing it.

"Let's go with yes," Sirius said slowly, as that's all he needed, some kid freaking out and calling the Aurors on top of everything...actually that could make something interesting if they saw Voldemort to, he liked to think they'd prioritize on the bigger threat.

"Why not just Floo there?" James offered with a mockery of his twisted grin. "Go along with Hermione's useless attempts to pretend like everything's okay, then get to the channel and go

straight to the Ministry."

Harry moaned, he couldn't look at any of them as his head continued to beat furiously worse than ever. He had no answer, he'd had one simple goal in mind and that was get Hermione's help and go. Anything after that would be worked on the way, and this solution somehow had not worked its way in the process.

James had regretted asking Harry this at once, reaching out as soon as he realized what he'd done and holding his shoulder; slowly killing himself as he told Harry to just go on. If it killed him first at least he wouldn't have to hear the rest, but Harry would be okay because he'd have his answer and none of their stupid interruptions anymore.

Harry shivered harder than ever, the book nearly slipping from his grasp. It was a stupid lie, why would something like that make him feel as if this could still somehow get worse!

"Thank you so much Harry, but I'm sure we were all aware this situation is all about me," Sirius worked hard to get a smirk in place, to put his old teasing tone back in play.

Harry felt tears stinging at his vision for a moment, he couldn't even look at him for fear he'd burst. He'd never heard Sirius do that in his own time, his carefree and joking godfather had died in Azkaban, and now Harry couldn't ride himself of the idea no matter what plan was offered he was going to lose him in a much more permanent way.

Sirius looked pleadingly to James or Remus, like he almost wished one of them would smack him upside the head like they always did for that stupid joke, but neither could muster up the energy,

both also fearing for this future of never hearing any such thing again and scolding him for doing it now would be like punishing themselves.

"What's that?" Sirius asked quickly, still it seemed trying to keep up some kind of conversation that no one wanted.

Lily took pity on him, even if he did know and was delaying she answered anyways. "It's actually quite dangerous, colorless and odorless, it wraps around your throat but of course no one can see what's happening, it'll take your head right off if it's in contact long enough. I hope Ginny's kidding about that being released in the school."

"I'm sure she was," Sirius opted to sooth some concern. "The twins prank more likely involved a severed head and claiming the cause."

Harry had never been more torn in his life about wanting to interrupt them and keep going before this pain in his skull was the death of him, or let them keep talking and help distract. The answer came to him easily enough, as his eyes seemed dragged back to the words, for an answer none of them could give.

"Can we just skip to the part where you're visiting the twins on the opening day of their shop?" Sirius huffed, clearly still wanting more than any of them not to be hearing about this.

Remus gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze, and Sirius actually felt worse. He was supposed to be offering comfort for them, not the other way around, but it was getting harder by the moment

to manage that as Harry's desperation kept growing with every word.

Harry paused for just a moment to glare at Remus and James like he was hoping for an apology. Neither would back down, they still felt Hermione was wasting time, but both let their shoulders

drop just a bit in recognition for Hermione trying...in her own way, even if it wasn't helpful now.

"Did she really think just because she offered some idea he'd put this idea off till summer," Remus couldn't help but keep furiously muttering.

Sirius ran his hand furiously through his hair again. He kept wishing for that to be Harry's life, and it never seemed to happen!

"Who are they going to test to make sure it's not more Doxie droppings?" Sirius asked, his eyes shining too bright, and huffing in frustration when he was ignored. He wished now more than ever this was all Harry's greatest concern, but if Harry found out later he'd been partying while this had been happening to him, somehow that would be even worse on his pup, there was just no winning.

"Oh yes, he's absolutely spiffing," Lily hissed. Hermione insisting to keep trying and sooth this was helping no one.

James made a pitiful whimpering noise, if Lily's hands hadn't been keeping his together tightly he'd have covered his ears again to stop that one getting through too late. He could never picture that, Sirius suffering like some wretched Death Eater!

"Well I can't say they're not good at this at least," Remus huffed, they'd covered their bases anyway.

"Who says she didn't, Garroting Gas isn't the only thing that's undetectable sometimes," James sighed, but he couldn't be bothered with that now, whatever got them out of there faster, and being on a time limit was doing that just fine.

"You're only using your head again?" Sirius was curious about this one. "If you're trying to prove Hermione's point, then dashing around the whole place would have been much more helpful, I wouldn't necessarily hear you shouting from the kitchen if I'm up in Buckbeak's room again."

Harry couldn't stop it this time, as he doubled over and a wrenching pain shot through him like his own brain was fighting to get out.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Sirius pleaded at once, trying to wrap an arm around Harry. "No more stupid questions, promise!"

Harry pulled away though, he wouldn't accept comfort for this right now! It hurt too much to look at any of them, to know what his future was doing to their life, so he snatched the book back to him and kept going with more force than ever, he wouldn't let his mind do this to him if he had to curse it again to make it stop.

'What did he do to deserve that?' Sirius huffed with only the flicker of a thought. He did not speak this one aloud though, he'd already learned that lesson and they all feared if they interrupted Harry again with another question the sweat pouring down his face would somehow really find a way to take his whole head off. He'd come too close in the past to pushing himself too far, and if a moment had come where he might really do that to himself, this was it. They had to be more careful than ever not to push him, or let him do that to himself; finding out the answer to this too soon could mean Harry's death as surely as Sirius'.

'Now who's wasting time,' James bounced uneasily in place, his knee jittering so much his son nearly slipped right out of his lap. He forced himself to remain still, this was not Harry's fault, whatever happened...

"He wouldn't know that sweetheart," Lily almost managed to calmly tell him, but the reminder meant nothing to him.

'So do you,' Remus was biting his tongue until he tasted blood to stop himself snapping that at Harry. He couldn't understand why he was doing this Hermione's way at all, now he was sitting

around arguing with an elf?! If Sirius wasn't right beside him right now he knew he'd have knocked down anyone in his way to get to him.

None of them had been in doubt about this, but somehow hearing Kreacher actually laugh about this made it real to Sirius like nothing yet had. He was going to die, never to come back to that

house just like he swore when he was sixteen and Kreacher had laughed then too when the door had slammed shut behind him, except now this time, he wouldn't be getting a choice in that...

Lily said something quite unintelligible in an angry shriek that had their infant crying up a storm. She couldn't take it anymore, the last thing they needed was Umbridge interfering in this!

It took all of his concentration to convince his infant to stop, and finally James realized he was being selfish. He wanted his son down here for that comfort, the warmth seeing his child always managed to give him, but now they were hurting him and nothing was worth that. He had to wrestle his way back to his feet to go and put him back in his crib, and Lily followed him

studiously.

Sirius watched them go with a critical eye, but Harry made a desperate noise when he'd made to follow, and Sirius acknowledged he couldn't leave Harry right now, but those two had better

come back- they were within the next moment. They were protecting their infant as well as putting themselves in any way they could to be helping Harry through this as well as Sirius.

Harry was quite glad he had the book now, finally something he could focus on. He could feel the tense disgust of those around him, even in their panic of Sirius' fate they could never condone

anything that was being done to Harry like this, and any of them would have likely ripped the book to shreds again for that woman putting her hands back on Harry like this. Harry though didn't want the break of having to deal with repairing the book again, because this wasn't important right now. He didn't have a care for this, it was only helping him to finally redirect his

thoughts into something manageable other than utter panic, and dealing with Umbridge was just that.

James felt it somewhere in him, surprise for something, but it was quickly overrode by his thudding heart that refused to let anything else flash across his mind but Sirius writhing at

Voldemort's feet. He couldn't picture this in his head like he normally could, was hardly following along with what Harry was telling him unless it put him one step closer to being back near Sirius.

"Name calling, that's what we've been resorted to?" Sirius said flatly, he couldn't believe he was still one of the only ones trying to mock this, but he didn't know what else to do with himself being sandwiched as he was.

Lily's hands tightened into fists around James, her nails digging in painfully to his and he really couldn't even concentrate on that. It was yet another injustice in their sons life he couldn't seem to go one moment, for anything to have gone right!

Malfoy laughed along with the rest of his squad.

Remus made a disgusted noise, his anger beating through him so much he felt as if for the first time in his life he understood Moony, that anger and power surging through a body he had no

control over, merely wanting to strike out at something when there was nothing there. If it wasn't for Padfoot and Prongs being right here he may well have snapped and tried to take someone's throat out for laughing at a time like this!

Harry withered on the spot, feeling woozy and sick as one of his earlier problems flushed back to him in understanding. He'd forgotten about an Order member, he'd forgotten about Snape!

"That, that-" Remus stuttered as he tried to cling to his anger, trying to force some justification how this had occurred to none of them, but suddenly they felt like arrogant, fool headed idiots! Snape was the largest prick of their life, but surely he was the one person left who had some means to contact the Order! He'd insult Harry and belittle him and do everything to make them

want him dead while doing it, but all of this was actually for nothing!

Lily sobbed, hot bitter tears actually tracing down her cheeks. If Snape hadn't spent the past five years treating her son like scum, maybe he would have crossed their mind in time in time for help, her mind, as once someone she'd trusted completely. Now suddenly he hadn't even been considered as a last resort because of all the horrible things he'd done, now he was just the one

leaving them all clinging to some desperate last attempt that someone other than Harry could know what was being done to their brother.

James pulled her tight to him, brushing at her cheeks and refusing to let her feel this alone, but James only felt the blame for this all the more. It always circled back to him and Snape, if he'd just ignored Snape rather than everything he'd done to him Harry would have someone to turn to, Sirius might have already been out of this mess, but no, because of James bloody Potter Snape hadn't crossed Harry's mind until it was almost too late, maybe it already was.

Sirius shook his head furiously, he'd had enough. He couldn't just sit here and keep watching the lot of them like this, and he reached for the book again. For now he'd only been intending to read it, like he was hoping himself pushing through this would put this back into perspective for them he was still here now to read about old Snivellus once again ruining their life, but this time Harry ignored him intentionally, he wouldn't be coddled for another of his mistakes!

"You weren't the only one," Remus bitterly reminded, his eyes still distant and hardly hearing a thing.

"Hermione forgot to," Sirius reminded loudly in hopes to keep their attention, and that did work for just a moment. Hermione, who'd been trying everything to keep Harry from doing this, had no more remembered the last standing member at the school than any of them. It didn't make them feel better, but it was just a touch less miserable to realize.

"Honestly, that could be the most terrifying and useful thing of all," Sirius managed with forced chipper. "Surprise attack, act limp until they're least expecting it."

"Something you'd never master if you lived to a hundred," Lily tried to snip back, her reflex of picking on him never seemed to die off at least, and Sirius smirked at her.

"And here I thought I'd finally found something to make that walking grease trap smile, children in pain," Sirius said in vain, there was always one good fall back and that was insulting Snape. He didn't even get a reaction from Lily that time though.

"Another?" James demanded in surprise. He'd thought nothing could distract him from his vivid mental image, but that certainly had, and though a part of him wanted to die at misplacing his fear

for Sirius for even a moment, it truly did turn out his son could keep his attention over anything.

"But when did she-" Remus began in genuine confusion before it snapped together in their mind. Umbridge offering Harry a drink, and how she'd kept questioning him after he'd supposedly done

it...

"Merlin's wand that woman!" Lily yelped, her blotchy face far more menacing than Umbridge's could ever hope to be. "She, she actually-"

"I can't say I'm surprised," Sirius said in disgust as he watched Harry, "but glory am I more proud than ever you didn't take a drop of that!"

"Could, could she really have, could I really have told her-" Harry gasped in fear.

"No," James comforted even if this had long since happened. "Sirius is under protection from that house in a ton of magical ways, at least one of which is the Fidelius Charm, and you can't be magically forced to say anything about someone under that. It has to be willing. You just couldn't have answered."

Harry nodded slowly, his hand clenched painfully along the book as the scar on his right hand burned more than it ever had from those detentions. He couldn't believe what Umbridge had almost made him do, like it would be his fault if Sirius- Harry shook again, rasping in pain and nearly reduced to tears himself from it all. He had to keep going, that would make this better,

whatever his thoughts were trying to kill him with would be ignored if he just kept going!

"She could have killed you!" Lily said faintly as she still hadn't gotten over this realization, even if the implications weren't pertaining to Sirius anymore. "That much, from that vial! You'd have told every secret you'd ever had and then dropped dead from such an amount!"

"Lets just be grateful for Moody and that blue eyed kitten then," James soothed, stroking her hair as they kept watching Harry more gratefully than ever, something he could not understand in his

current mind set.

"That'll work though," Sirius hissed in triumph, even if the idea of being rescued by Snivellus made him contemplate if being around Voldemort wasn't just a touch better- he cut that thought

off, even he knew when something wasn't funny.

"He's, lying, to her," Lily said slowly as her brain worked sluggishly to realize this. That was a flat out lie, there were several poisions Snape more than likely had on stock that could leave a person in horrid amounts of pain for days, concocted purely for the act of interrogations. There were even other levels of truth serum Snape likely had on hand, yet he was denying any knowledge of all that...the warmth that suddenly flushed through her made her want to leap up and hug him for the first time since he'd appeared in these. He was a hateful, bitter arse to her son and everyone he seemingly came in contact with, but her old friend Sev did still exist! He was trying to help Harry!

The others watched this revelation flood over Lily with only minimal care, even as they realized the same thing. Though if Snape was the cause of Sirius getting out of this, the Marauders all grudgingly vowed they wouldn't speak a mean word of him again...okay, maybe at least not wish him dead anymore.

"This only goes to show how piss he was at teaching Occlumency though," for the first time in his life, there wasn't a touch of anything remotely cruel when speaking of Snape in James' tone. "He would have grasped that with the image you showed him, he's not that stupid." Even the insult at the end held nothing but polite information.

"Now she knows our grief," Remus agreed.

"Well that's what she gets taking the word of a Death Eater," Sirius sniffed.

"Lesson likely not learned," James said grimly.

"That was, brilliant Harry!" James breathed, his eyes finally flitting with pure, real hope. "He'd know our nicknames, even if he hadn't realized where in the Department of Mysteries before, he would now!"

Harry struggled to look up at them like he'd been previously refusing to, he couldn't at all grasp what they were feeling about this because he knew it was all for nothing. His panic wasn't slowing, his urge to run away or never let Sirius go again still at war. This was only a distraction, a problem in his way, but they were all acting like this was going to make it better. He wished he could believe them, and it crushed him to take that away from them when he kept going without a hint of agreeing.

"Far more than you could ever understand," Sirius hissed. He refused to allow Harry to keep torturing himself as he tightened his hold on him, Snape had to do one useful thing in his life,

right?

"Oh, well that's nice. At least he doesn't contend murder on students, we've finally found where he draws the line," Remus mock celebrated.

"Lets see how far that extends," James whispered, fear still gripping him from saying more as he looked from Harry to Sirius, he couldn't shake off as easily his son was showing no signs of relief at this taking place.

"What makes you think he didn't understand?" Lily pleaded. "What did you want him to do, wink at you? If he'd given a clue he did know what you meant, Umbridge would have done something preventing him from telling even longer!"

"I, I don't know," Harry said miserably, he couldn't look at any of them for fear he'd start seeing that hate any moment he was so sure would come eventually. He kept going loudly to prevent

anyone saying more, he had no defence for himself now more than ever for what came next.

"I don't like this, and I thought I was already at that limit," Sirius muttered uneasily, he didn't like to think what Umbridge would do to Harry when she was pushed to her breaking point, which they seemed to have reached.

James jaw flopped open, he was sure he hadn't heard that right! There was just no way the universe would do this to him, having Harry and Sirius being tortured at the same time! James would absolutely lose his mind, he would snap in half, there was no doubt of this!

"Much of what she's done has been illegal, this is-" Lily couldn't keep going, in anger or fear or anything, her head was throbbing as hard as Harry's must be, her vision was double. This could not be happening to her son again!

Sirius could not breath. Even being under Voldemort's foot right now would never hurt as bad as this! That madman wasn't poking and prodding trying to decide how to do the most pain, he just

inflicted! The Cruciatus Curse came from intent, of how much pain you wanted to cause, now it was being decided what was worse than that!

The worst part to all of them was still Harry's lack of, of anything! He kept going with the same flighty panic as when he'd started because all he could think about was this happening to Sirius, clearly the same being bestowed upon him was not crossing his mind!

There was something deeply wrong going on here when that just didn't feel as important as everything going on right now. Oh no, it hadn't been a freak accident at all, this was even better!

Another reason to kill Umbridge when they had an overwhelming amount of those!

"Gold star! I'm sure Fudge would have somehow given you another promotion if he'd found out-" Sirius rasped out, but it was getting harder every second to say any single thing...

Remus was convinced right then he'd lost his mind. There was just no way Hermione would ever cave to this! Of everything she was, coward had never been one at the top of the list. Then he

really considered the situation...and he almost pitied her in understanding. If, if she really couldn't bare to see Harry being tortured, would she really give up everything? Sirius, the Order, all to stop that happening to Harry? Would any of them really do differently?

Lily was damn near close to sobbing again as well. She couldn't stand it, listening to Harry go through that again, the first time had been the worst moment of her life and now she couldn't even look back on that with the knowledge she'd swoop in and save her son again. Hermione had though, and she'd never wanted to hug someone more in her life for being there for her son.

"You can dry sob of course. It's really an emotion that just pours out, tears aren't always a factor-" James was babbling, more out of shame than anything for everything he'd called her. Of course Hermione cared, even if it wasn't for Sirius like she had no right to. She was putting herself in terrible danger and trouble and all sorts of things just to defend Harry though, and he wanted to apologize endlessly for everything he'd called her these past days for always really being there when they needed her most for Harry.

Lily had patted his cheek in sympathy to get him to stop, and though one very tiny knot inside of Harry felt the first wriggle of relief his family didn't seem to despise the closest thing he had to a sister anymore, it still wasn't enough to distract him from the guilt tearing up the rest of him from the inside.

Lily moved so fast Harry didn't even realize the book was gone until he was just looking at his hands, and he glared furiously at her in protest.

"Harry, forcing yourself to read all this so fast is making you sick, now breath for a minute," she told him before turning to her wide eyed husband and confirming, "I heard that right, right?"

"Hermione lied," Remus agreed, his tongue felt swollen to twice its normal size in his mouth from having bitten it so hard before.

"This is a ruse," James whispered, burning through so many emotions lately he felt light headed from such a new, abrupt one that he still managed to lace back to Sirius. In all their panic of

Sirius burst out laughing. It was chaotic, maybe had one too many hiccups with stops and stuttering starts, but oh boy was he trying for that carefree tone to finally put light back into this

again.

Harry watched him for a long time, as long as he was willing to try, because he never wanted this to end. To see Sirius grinning when the only thing filling his mind was that pain etched into his face from what Voldemort was doing to him. That must be why he was feeling so guilty, because Sirius was only there because of him, of that he was sure. It wasn't quite connecting though, and apparently he couldn't stay distracted no matter what Sirius did. He kindly reached back to his mother and took the book back, not to be delayed in anything, even the man himself, to understand what he'd done so wrong to loose this from his life.

"Now there's really saying something, considering she wasn't even following along with the real problem in the first place," Remus said mildly only to appease Sirius, as he'd been watching Harry

worriedly he couldn't do anything to keep his pup from sinking lower into himself any moment. Sirius did give Moony a real smile, so it had been worth it as they all kept watching Harry berate himself with every word.

"I mean, I think they still would have written them off as indignation Hermione was telling the truth," Sirius said with the first real breath of lively conversation he'd felt since Harry's vision.

"Lets just be happy they have no attention span, something I'm sure you can understand," Lily muttered without a touch of heat in her barb considering this was no more distracting to them than

if Hickory had just come back in the room. This was just a parting fact, a side portion going on when they wouldn't deny they wanted to get right back to hearing of Sirius' rescue no matter how that happened.

"Why do I now feel like that's exactly what he'd be doing?" James said in exasperation.

"Certainly the Hogs Head, anybody could blend in there, and he wouldn't even be far from the school," Remus said with almost a touch of hope. Like a robbed man with a masked face would

walk in any minute and reveal himself to be Dumbledore with the perfect solution to get Sirius out

of this.

"I hope she tried poking herself in the eye, that'll manage something," Lily murmured in an honest attempt at helpful advice while all the boys paused to look at her for such a thing on her part and attempt at helpful advice while all the boys paused to look at her for such a thing on her part and she only just managed an old sly grin and a remorseless shrug. "Yes, I've had to fake crying in my past a few times, that's not the point now."

James disagreed, he always wanted to know everything about her and he'd never heard this one, but the pressing matter of Sirius still weighed the most on him, and he took just the smallest

amount of comfort he could ask her later and listen to Sirius laugh when she told the story, after...but right now it felt impossible to even think that far ahead.

"Letting them answer themselves rather than making up your own excuses tends to work like a charm, how is Hermione such a pro at this?" Sirius said weakly, his still the most honest and

genuine smile for this happening.

Remus still couldn't get over the fact, "is she making this up on the spot? Where could Hermione even lead her?"

"Room of Requirements?" Sirius offered as he thought wildly, though no place in the castle could have a trap set up quick enough to get them out of their hair.

"She already knows about that place, but she might not understand it's full capabilities, it could work," James agreed honestly just to shut them up. He didn't care if they just pushed Umbridge

out the window to get rid of her, Harry needed to be back on his way. He'd get retribution later on Azkaban's newest cellmate for what she tried to do to Harry later.

"Nice," Sirius drew the word out for dramatic fashion, holding it as long as he could but not as long as he was capable as Remus smacked him to get him to stop, not denying his hand was still

shaking hard the whole time.

"Ha!" Sirius let out a bark of laughter that had even worked! He'd been congratulating Hermione on the attempt, he couldn't believe Umbridge had fallen for it!

Harry paused then, actually taking a shaking breath as he glanced to Sirius, his eyes still wild with panic he may never hear that again if ever this ended...but surely the world he'd come from wasn't so cruel as that. He'd find a way to save Sirius...right?

"I know she can't," Lily said at once without a trace of fear. Harry and Hermione individually would be a formidable force to that doily dolt, but the two together, even Harry not knowing

Hermione's plan if even there was one, Umbridge wouldn't know what hit her anymore than them.

Harry tried to turn the page quickly, to not let anyone see his chapter was over. He still couldn't put the bare of this onto anyone else, he had to know this for himself and just hope he could handle whatever the answer was without losing everyone he cared about, then and now.

HPHPHPHP

Gah, sorry I know the first half was probably cheesy as hell, it really dragged on me, but I really didn't want that giant space inbetween them all for the parts to come, and they weren't all going to fit on one couch. The worst part is, this isn't even the worst to come yet, so I hope you guys can bare with me through what is probably my worst mode, I always think my comfort comes off more cheesy than anything.

*Not something I really had a moment to think about in fic, but who was teaching Transfiguration during this time? Were classes just canceled, being the end of the year and all, and it was like

previous DADA teachers gone so they just had those periods free? That's what I'm going with.


	33. FIGHT AND FLIGHT

Remus wasn't fooled, he'd been watching over Harry's shoulder for just this. His eyes burned with every word that wasn't the fatal blow of Sirius' death, and still was just as much relieved they had another few moments to cling to that hope. He snapped forward and pried the book away from Harry, even as he tried to cling to it in protest.

"No, you guys shouldn't-"

"And you think you should?" Remus demanded as he matched Harry's glare. It felt like they were playing a real life version of Snape's task from so many days ago. Which was the deadly part of

this? Who would it be, forced to say the words of what truly did their family in? Letting Harry get through it all by himself though would not be tolerated by a single one, and now surrounded on all sides as they all were, it would be the only chance they had to live through it.

Harry very reluctantly handed it over, and at once began pressing a trembling hand to his scar. Now he had nothing to occupy his hands, but knew their torturous pain of only having to listen as

at any moment, the vision could overtake Harry again...

Sirius still wished someone would offer speculation, a joke, anything! He kept hoping that somehow, any moment now, he'd drop in front of Harry with the magical story of his escape, he'd

been the one to put Voldemort back in his place.

James made a little squeak noise. He could feel the time pressing into them in here, turning them more petrified by the second as they were forced to listen to this, and it had been even longer in Harry's time, how much longer did Sirius have!?

Lily had been shaking nonstop for quite some time, but that caused yet another tremor for a wholly other reason. If only her sacrifice had meant something more. She felt as if she'd only

bought her son a spare few years, but he just kept suffering a life that no one should ever have to live through.

"Play to her own idiocies," Remus muttered absently, his mind really not at all on this as he felt they were only getting further away from the help Sirius so needed. Hermione should have led her down to Snape's office, maybe he'd have done something useful for once in his life and stunned this troll bogie for them and then explained the plan of how to help Sirius!

"I don't know how," Sirius said honestly.

Sirius wanted to shake off their concern again, but it was getting harder by the moment as his own chest restricted painfully. What he would give for Harry to never have known that pain, but he didn't seem able to find that hope as easily as his friends Harry would find some way out of this for him. After all, when Voldemort wanted you dead...and even James hadn't been able to fight

him off...

"Does she only just now wonder if she's being played?" Sirius tried desperately for that chipper tone at her idiocy, but it still came out more chilling as Harry shivered, he could still hear Sirius' screams of pain.

"If she were that stupid, killing her would hold almost no fun," James said deadpan.

"Which really goes to show the Ministry's priorities, oh, no wait, we already knew they respected dung more than anything," Lily muttered.

Remus suddenly had their attention far more than anything yet. The Marauders couldn't help it, if they'd been concocting some kind of plan, they'd have initiated it somewhere in here too, an area they honestly claimed to know better than even the castle. The intrigue finally brought them off of Sirius for even a second, what was Hermione up to?

Lily honestly wondered if that could be the plan, Umbridge certainly didn't know her way well enough, she could get lost.

After ripping her robes in bramble she demanded how far in it was.

James lost any train of thought he might have cobbled together. If Hermione did have any idea in mind, it may well have been just that, in hopes Grawp would take care of their splinter and they

could get back the real problem. Either she was lost or- he couldn't think past anything but wishing more than ever this future would never come.

"Uhoh," Remus muttered, now convinced whatever plan she may have was now nonexistent and she was scrambling as desperately as them for a way out of this.

"There's no way I'd consider you a person if you did," James stated.

That caught them all off guard, Harry blinking slowly as he tried to get his eyes to adjust to this. He still felt more than anything that feeling for what Sirius was going through, it was impossible to erase, but he could distantly recognize something new trying to trump that, some new fear coupled with something long overdue...

The boys had felt that way many times in the forest, and though it wasn't always a bad thing, it certainly wasn't something they wanted Harry to be experiencing right now! It was only another delay, another few lines they'd have to hear of Sirius not being safe.

Lily startled so bad her wand was pointed at Remus before she'd even recognized the motion. Between Sirius a breath away from not having a future in that thing and now Harry being drug around the most dangerous place for him to be wandless, she was far past her wits end with anything else to do but curse the next thing that came too close.

Remus only paused for a moment to watch her before going back to reading, unable to concentrate long enough to even check if she stowed it away. Normally the sight would have terrified him from someone so genuinely formidable, especially her in this situation, but if she wanted to take this from him when he didn't have his answer for Sirius yet she'd have to try harder

than that.

Sirius' face twisted in disgust, his hands still itching to crack her head in. His godson was trying to risk his life for him, and that soiled cat litter was using him to cover her own disgusting flesh!

Harry watched the binding in Remus' hands crack dangerously, they all flashed with murder again and he worried it would be far too long before they passed off of that. As pent up and stressed as

they were for Sirius and now him, it seemed a miracle if Umbridge didn't enact another break away from this place more every line. Yet that same detached part of him pleasantly informed, while giving him another sock to his temple he had no need for with the rest of his pain, that hopefully something was going to come of this. Not good, that emotion was impossible to grasp right now, but something not bad.

James made that noise again, and Sirius desperately put his arm around his best mate. It was the only thing holding him together now, realizing that Harry and Sirius truly were both in life

threatening situations, and he couldn't do anything for either of them! This all somehow grew successively worse every single day, he was literally being torn in two for his family. There was

no sign of his ghost coming back this time to offer anyone anything!

"This was her plan!" Lily shrieked, and Remus actually did recoil in fear from her now, from this life somehow Harry survived and honestly none of them had a clue how at this point. "To make

the centaurs angry!"

"I, can actually see this one, a bit," Sirius whispered, his eyes still too wide but certainly there was something in his voice now holding to that. "She knows exactly how Umbridge is going to treat these guys, and they're going to go ballistic, maybe kill her if we're lucky. Yet those two are still young, innocent the centaurs have said themselves, so if they play this right, they'll walk right back out of there without her."

"I, well yes but she-" Lily still failed to truly put her heart into this even if she could see the logic. She was sick with worry for one of her boys already, but in all fairness it's not like she'd come up with an alternative, she was still reeling from what was going on with Sirius. Hermione's level headedness may be their saving grace as she tried to wave Remus on without full blown panicking.

Remus scoffed low in his throat in disgust, easily imagining such a pathetic response from something able to fight back against her. A braver person than her would have cowed in front of a

herd of angry centaurs, but after all she'd done to Harry and too many innocent children, whatever happened to her next because of this would be so sweetly deserved even Umbridge's voice couldn't manage it.

"She is no such thing!" Sirius vowed, he'd never view her as anything more than a lower life form than the mice Mrs. Norris spat out for not being edible enough.

"Now she's done it," James said distantly, though he'd never been less invested in Umbridge in his life. If this had been going on any other time than when Sirius needed him...

"Trying to distance herself, a very good idea right now," Remus muttered, his fingers tapping restlessly against the book as he still recognized how dangerous this was for Harry. Just being a

human in her presence right now was a danger, no matter their age.

"That's right, keep insulting them," Sirius never thought he would be encouraging Umbridge to do anything, but this was a better distraction from his own problem than he ever would have hoped to ask for. "I've always wanted to hear of dismemberment by centaurs."

"I never would have thought she could really be this dense," Lily hissed. As foul as they'd all found her, they never would have thought she'd be this stupid. Even the lowest life form must

realize by now who was the dominant one in this environment.

"Dead." James said flatly, every single part of him praying that was the only death of this one.

"Now I know where your mind still is if unnerving is all you're getting from this," Remus shifted uneasily, still all to fearful Harry and Hermione would be caught in the crossfire any second, and yet hardly wanting to flip back any moment and hear of what Voldemort was doing to Sirius. This was a true torture in itself.

"Oh no, I was wrong," James conceded. "Now she's dead."

"And here we are, not even able to enjoy it," Remus muttered, his hand always on the next page, never wanting to keep going until the precious words arrived Sirius had escaped.

"Honestly I don't think it was worth it," Sirius grumbled in disgust. Harry would get his wand back, no need to degrade himself into using that tarnished wood once used by a frog thicker than any pond.

Remus vaguely recalled a few myths he'd heard of what centaurus did when they really wanted you dead, and honestly if even a portion of them were true he'd have felt genuine fear under any

other circumstances, but now he was just wishing this had all been done in the beginning to her.

Harry rubbed at his scar, not on his forehead, but the back of his hand, his eyes actually burning hatefully for someone other than Voldemort or himself for just a moment. Umbridge's screams and pleas for help had meant nothing to him then or now.

"Was she really begging you to actually help her?" James honestly couldn't believe that one, even the Dursley's wouldn't really be so stupid!

"Yes," Harry said, his right hand clenched into a hard fist, "but I didn't bother of course, after all, I must not tell lies."*

Sirius grinned crazily at Harry, patting his knee with far too much enthusiasm for this. It all fit together rather well in his mind, he'd take on Voldemort all over again if he could get these set of circumstances to happen to Umbridge any day, they couldn't have set up a better revenge if they'd tried!

The others did not agree, but none could deny either they weren't just a bit grimly pleased something had been worth it in all this mayhem and heartbreak, though it would mean nothing if the one most important to them didn't make it through.

"Not good," Lily hissed, chanting that under her breath now as she removed her nails from James and let them dig into her own palm instead, the fear twisting her innards relieving nothing. She couldn't erase the idea Harry was still in the middle of all this.

James reached over and put her hands right back inside his, the only thing stilling the shaking, he didn't care the little pinpricks of her fear pushing into him instead, it was yet another reminder, a way to distance himself from seeing this happening to Harry on one level and still seeing Sirius

just beyond that in a position he'd die before allowing himself to stay in at Voldemort's feet.

"Shit!" Lily yelped, startling in place all over again. The centaurs had been watching the whole time, they knew Hermione's hadn't been a complete ruse!

"This could still work in their favor," Remus tried desperately to placate. "She had them at wand point this whole time, if they play this right they could pin it all on Umbridge forcing them to go in there."

"There's a compliment somewhere in there," James managed softly as he watched his son, his own age, that sting always present in the back of his mind he'd never truly seen him grow up, that

these centaurs had seen his son at more stages of his life than he had.

"Gah, she was doing so good for a moment!" Remus found a new shade of pale all his own in fear for that line.

"How did she manage to say the worst possible thing," Sirius groaned miserably, now realizing their earlier fears had been preemptive, Hermione may have earned herself a death sentence along with Umbridge for that one alone.

"Don't ever let them meet Sirius or they'll know that's true." Lily tried to say that in her normal voice she always spoke to him with, it was easier on her heart for just a second to look him in the eyes and as always give a poke at him.

Sirius responded as always, flashing her a grin, but it was still lost on the others, as Lily only managed to remind them they'd give anything for Sirius to be in this with Harry rather than where he was.

"I fear we've reached past the point where words help," James managed to get out, no longer able to support his own weight and would have long since fallen over if he wasn't already down. He

could feel he was about to be reduced to tears any moment now, because even looking at Harry and knowing he made it out alive, he still hadn't stopped rubbing his scar this whole time. This still wasn't the biggest fear of his night, and there was only one thing worse than fearing for Hermione's life right now.

Sirius hadn't thought it possible to be more frightened for Harry than he was moments ago, still knowing his pup could slip back into Voldemort's mind any moment when this fight between

them ended, but somehow he'd certainly found a way to go past that into another level of fear. What did those centaurs do to him before someone came along to the rescue!

Lily retched, one hand finally leaving her husbands now to tangle with Harry's as well, fingers twisted so tight nothing could have pulled them from her.

James spluttered something that might have been relief for this finally being cut off, though this only meant his worry for Sirius went right back up to the top now that Harry was free. He hadn't a second to breath even as his being snapped back into place for one solid worry back present.

"A proper warrior," Remus muttered without surprise, the centaurs were clearly trained to recognize threat over arrogance, something Umbridge was now being taught.

"You said what now?" Sirius squeaked.

"I-" Remus' voice failed as he couldn't repeat that one. According to Harry they hadn't been anywhere near where Grawp was tied up, so how was he, why...

Harry grew impatient with their surprise even as he felt his own pitiful relief for the save he didn't feel he deserved. He was almost angry for the rescue, like he knew he'd deserved to stay in that forest and the centaurs punishment would still be better than the rest of this memory. He couldn't just let himself sit around with that or he'd explode, but Harry's trying to keep going only spurred Remus back into fully grasping this. He certainly hadn't forgotten as his knee stayed tight pressed

to Sirius, that stupid annoying voice of his always near the back of his ear, and he filed whatever emotions he had for anything else away for later.

Sirius was still making some noise with his throat like he was trying to attempt speech. They'd hardly forgotten about Grawp, but this never would have crossed anyone's mind! How had he

even gotten loose? A giant was actually walking freely around their forest! He could no longer decide if it was fear, or indignation keeping him listening.

Remus couldn't help but falter from surprise again. He didn't know any words in Giant, but he honestly didn't feel that's what Grawp wanted either, that didn't exactly sound like he was asking

for directions back to his mountain now he'd gotten himself free.

Lily covered her mouth in surprise, wondering at that all of a sudden, and how he hadn't been able to say Hermione's name quite right either, but surely he wouldn't...

"But, why would he?" James demanded, feeling woozy from too many things going on, and now he could add his son being crushed by a giant again to that list even if it was by accident.

"I think he actually grew to care for Hagrid," Lily hummed, so constantly near tears of late from her eyes constantly flickering to Sirius this almost set her off again.

"I, wow, I did not see that coming," Remus muttered, though admittedly touched for Hagrid, imagining the big guys face if he'd seen his brother now.

"Now we know Hermione was right," Sirius blinked spastically, though a laugh was still too far gone for him.

"Bless Hagrid," Lily said with a hard catch in her throat, she couldn't imagine what would have happened to her Hare Bear if their game keeper wasn't the way he was.

"We all want Hagrid back," Harry muttered, he'd actually stopped rubbing at his head for a moment to gaze at the book with longing before turning wretched eyes to Sirius. There were a lot

of things in his life he wished he'd had back, Grawp should consider himself lucky Hagrid really was just, inconvenienced right now.

They all twitched with unease, that fight or flight instinct wanting to kick in here more every moment, none were crazy enough to think they could fight off a giant. Even with the confidence

now Grawp wouldn't really do them harm, it was not a pleasant thing to be thinking of Harry so casually tossed over Group's shoulders when he realized he'd caught the wrong person.

Lily gasped, the urge to vomit becoming more every moment. Now she could easily imagine this horrific scene, and both sides so furious, and their son still caught in the middle of it all.

"I, can not, believe that just happened," Sirius shook his head slowly. How did Harry's life keep getting crazier by the hour!? They still hadn't even gotten to the part where Harry was going to go kamikaze up to the Ministry for him!

James wasn't sure how many times his heart could stop beating before he keeled over, but he was sure he was close by now. He could feel that time too, like Sirius' heartbeats were even now being numbered!

"Ah Harry, don't take it out on her," Sirius said. He felt so faint, getting a first hand account of his own death, not able to tell Harry for one moment what he was doing was wrong for trying to stop it, but at the same time there was almost a relief, a calmness in him Harry had never put himself in danger for his sake, again.

"Thought that was my line," Harry muttered, his eyes still holding a dead look that continued to horrify them more than anything, as if nothing he'd yet done had even made a difference, Sirius' fate was already sealed. They couldn't believe that though, they wouldn't!

Remus felt a hollow laugh, watching that reaction alone, afraid to look at Harry and see his eyes again. If that was the worst reaction Harry had, this whole ordeal really could be bearable, please let that be the worst thing Harry do!

"Well, at least someone's been productive," Harry seethed hatefully, never having felt more useless in his life than he did in this moment, still wishing he'd chased Grawp down or those

centaurs. He couldn't understand where his mind was coming from with this, it just couldn't be true there really was no out for Sirius, he must be misunderstanding something!

There was some long lost part of James he couldn't find right now where he and his friends should have been laughing at that, congratulating little Ginny and how far she'd come.

"I think Harry more meant how'd they got their wands back," Sirius said, clearly finding this the most interesting thing to think about right now no matter how much anyone else disagreed.

"I'm wondering if it was Luna," Lily offered, still fighting off the urge to keep screaming now that the kids were back to just trying to figure out what to do, at least before they'd felt the movement! "Her complacency, could have caused a sneak attack, got their wands away to start this."

"Prongs, I really can see why you fell for such a devious woman, concocting that idea. I'm sorry I didn't appreciate that more in school." Sirius told him pleasantly.

James shook his head from side to side with that tight feeling still restricting his heart from truly smiling back, but Sirius could always drag him back to this world no matter how lost in thought he'd get. "Guess I should be rather glad, don't need you pining after her as well, she had enough blokes doing that."

Lily swatted them both good naturedly while Sirius rolled his eyes.

"And they just managed to find them in that great big-"

"Shh," Lily shushed Sirius before he could interrupt again, she was going to go ballistic if she didn't hear of Harry on the move soon, they could feel now more than ever Sirius was running out

of whatever time he had.

"Great, now we're all caught up!" James said through gritted teeth, this had been the longest hour of his life, and he never would have thought anything could trump the moment Peter had betrayed him, and he'd never hoped something else would!

"Go back to the school!" Remus seemed aghast that wasn't Harry's first thought. "Make damn sure Snape got the message! Hell, Umbridge's fireplace is open now! Go back and use that!" He

stopped quickly though, as his practically shouting these things was doing nothing but making Harry more miserable by the second. They could all feel how much he was blaming himself for

this, and Remus would never want to feel as if he were making that worse. He honestly believed he wouldn't have been any more clear headed in the moment, more than likely standing around

and panicking just like Harry in trying to understand what he could do to help, so he just kept himself going, any answer would be better than watching the poor kid beat himself up over this.

'Oh yes, running off to get brooms is the most logical thing,' Remus couldn't help that mocking thought which he firmly kept to himself as it was no more helpful than last time, he just wanted to be on the move already even with his Padfoot right here by his side.

"She's got you there though," Sirius managed a real chuckle.

"She's going to get herself killed!" Harry hissed, somehow his panic climbing even worse than before and he hadn't thought that was possible, but now the reality his friends were in danger

really was pushing him farther than ever. His temple gave an extra hard throb, he could feel that pain and panic climbing every second, soon he wouldn't be able to tell past from present and he'd go darting out of this place himself to go rescue a Sirius right next to him.

"I think Neville really deserves something there," Lily said softly as she watched Harry bury his face in his hands with resignation. "He's the least understanding of what's going on, he doesn't even know who Sirius is. Even if he has put the name to the one in the papers, that makes this all the more unbelievable of the lad."

"Yeah, great, he's a bloody saint," Harry got out around a tight throat, pushing his glasses off his face for a moment to rub at bloodshot eyes, but quickly fixing that so he would never have to stop looking at Sirius for a moment longer than he had to. His mother was right, they all were, he was more grateful and longing in his life for the worst moment in his life just for those friends he longer had at his side even with his family he had now.

"Who would you have picked?" Sirius scrutinized that one oddly. "Cho? Zacharia? Collin? I never heard better options than the ones you've got."

"They're the ones asking to be there," James agreed, blinking fast to try and push that cursed vision from Harry's mind out of his for just one moment, it wasn't working.

Harry was still trembling worse than ever, wanting to go and save Sirius already, but now feeling as if he understood that anger at himself, if any of his friends got hurt because they'd gone with

him...

"She can keep saying that all she likes, it dosen't mean an Occarumpent is going to appear!" Remus ground out.

He hardly noticed the odd looks he was being given and jerked his head back up to glare at Sirius as he interrupted to ask what that even was.

"An occamy and an erumpent, keep up Sirius."

Sirius raised his hands in surrender, he hadn't been expecting Moony to be mocking Luna's weird creature ideas right now.

"Yes, because that was the part she caught on," Remus rolled his eyes heavily, feeling the pressure more than anyone he'd wasted all of his breath on things that weren't getting Sirius away

from danger.

"Oh," they all muttered in genuine surprise. Only one of their members had been able to see those things in their day, and for the first time they wondered how often he'd seen those in the Forest without even mentioning it to them. This still held nothing to their honest thought this was the most ridiculous and long winded way Harry could use to get there! Yet berating him over it would do nothing but make them all feel even worse, they just wished someone other than Luna had offered up an idea, which was more than likely where Moony's ire with her currently was.

"You can still find things ugly and useful," Lily said primly with a sideways look at Sirius, who openly ignored that one, there were some things even he wouldn't joke about, and now wasn't the time for those kinds of jokes on her part.

"Lest Ron's as lovely as ever," Lily muttered, more for herself that time as Sirius' eyes did brighten with humor at that one.

"She could just ride on the back of one of the boys, they're tough things," James grumped, if this was how they were going to travel, he wanted this to be done with!

"Credit for trying?" Remus said snippily, well aware he was clutching the last page of his chapter and only more problems had been added to this already paralyzing situation!

"Why does Ginny know that?" Sirius muttered in surprise, she wouldn't have had this lesson yet.

"Luna clearly knows a lot about them, maybe she's had a chat with Hagrid about them and told Ginny about them," James forced himself to look Sirius in the face as the two sat around and just

discussed something for a moment, even though both faces were more sickly pale than any full moon had ever done to them. They should have had the most practice worrying about their

friends, and yet nothing could prepare them for what this all felt like.

"No more picking on her either Moony, I like her," Sirius muttered, an actual smile trying to twist away his grimace for his situation for the girls bluntness.

"Well that seems to leave only you, I'm sure I'll have plenty more to complain of," Remus huffed.

Remus gave a tense sigh, somehow his hands fisting harder than ever as he eyed Lily who was now watching him expectantly. Another one down, and it hadn't happened yet. Maybe, if they just

kept getting through more of these, it wouldn't at all...

HPHPHPHP

*No one should deny movie Harry's zinger really was brilliant and I regret nothing putting it in here.

**I actually forgot to bring up something about that during Eye of the Snake, it's back during their DA lesson when Angelina tells who got Harry's Seeker spot. I've actually done this a few times, I am not perfect (I'm looking at you Inspired Girl and that nickname I don't know how to cope with!), and I forget things and go back and edit old chapters sometimes if you care to go look.


	34. DEPARTMENT OF MYSTERIES

Lily's dark red hair could have actually been set ablaze and she wouldn't have noticed as she held Remus' gaze, her hand held out expectantly. Careful of each move he made, he passed it to her

like a loaded gun, all eyes now on her as she started in as clear a voice as she could manage. She cared about Sirius like her own adopted, annoying as piss little brother. She had not a clue how to help any of them with a grief ten times her own, but damn it all, she was going to read her part and hope the universe would just do one kind thing for her and let this be the chapter with an answer already, they weren't going to last much longer without finding out what happened to him!

"Snack for the road," Sirius agreed.

"You really are lucky these things have been dealing with Hagrid all their life, otherwise that would be going an entirely different way," Remus muttered, but since they were all right next to each other they heard anyways and simply chose to ignore him.

"You've even got practice from Buckbeak," James agreed, hardly believing his own words, that this was his son's life.

"Maybe she does," Sirius shrugged, now picturing her house with a herd of unicorns on the property, it fit her anyways.

"I can imagine," Lily agreed. Even with Harry's descriptive depictions of them, all she could see in her mind was three of them apparently sitting on top of nothing, and sympathizing more with the other three.

Ron kept running his hand along the silky mane, stating how mad this was, if only he could see it this would be slightly less mad!

Lily spluttered as she looked around desperately to him, but Harry couldn't find it in him to apologize for the bleak words, as he still wasn't sure if they remained true.

Harry couldn't feel that errant fascination. He could picture it, sitting around trying to pick their brains apart wondering the how's and why's a Thestral was able to do this, a magical ability or some inner bred trait...but he could not find the words to start anything of the sort.

"Oi, Prongs, what about an invisible broom?" Sirius launched at him what was clearly an old thing between them, Sirius loved offering him new broom designs even if they only did appear on

paper for now.

James still had to take a slow, careful breath to make sure he wouldn't start panicking again if he unclenched his throat before agreeing, "I can't believe we never thought of that. As often as we lived under the Cloak."

Lily's eyes burned, her throat like its own heavy weight trying to force her not to say those words. She just didn't want to believe this was happening...

Sirius clenched his fists, it was getting harder all the time to hold onto his acceptance of this happening to him. Last time Harry had gone through a sensation like this he'd been speeding

towards Order headquarters, to safety, now he was pelting into danger all for him, it wasn't right he'd never seemed to have done anything for Harry's life except cause him more trouble.

Lily could only read Harry's internal fight in a whisper, her voice would go no stronger, he just had to be right, Sirius would be okay...

Sirius muttered anxiously, as if he'd been hoping Harry would never get to this point. The others ignored him. Despite the fear clinging to them for Harry finally arriving, this had been what they'd been wanting, hoping for, Harry was going to save him just like he had so many others.

Lily's eyes nearly fell out of her head she jumped so hard, kept reading fast as she could, she knew Harry wasn't collapsing on himself just by her forceful tone, the promise of an immediate answer.

Harry had still shook anew as he all too easily pictured it, that really could have been one of his friends and what would he have done? Stopped trying to get Sirius and go help them? The question was unbearable with no answer.

James was having to fight off the urge to start screaming in frustration all over again. Of the last time Harry had been here, and how this was somehow unbelievably worse, far more precious than school expulsion.

Sirius' whole body was still shaking, and he wanted to pretend just for a moment it was all for Ron's unintentional humor right there at the poor lads expense.

"I really do like this one," Sirius politely informed Harry. "You clearly need her around more, never met a more level headed person."

Harry gave him an even look, considering no one had seemed to appreciate Hermione trying to keep her head while he was losing his, but the difference was fair, Luna was going along while

keeping herself in check where as to them it felt as if Hermione was only hurting them more than helping them until it came down to it.

Remus felt somewhere in him the gratitude as well, never failing to notice Harry's care for creatures that many wouldn't have given a passing glance to in this situation.

"How on Earth did you remember that almost a year later?" Sirius demanded.

"It was a rather memorable day," Lily reminded when Harry's jaw was trembling too hard to figure his own response.

"Would have been an awkward moment if you'd suddenly realized you didn't know someone's last name," Sirius pointed out.

"Padfoot I swear-" James scowled at him for the near constant interruptions now when he just wanted to hear of him walking back out of this place.

Sirius just smirked, he wasn't going to stop and Prongs wasn't going to make him, his talking was the most reassurance he could offer them he was fine.

Remus sadly chose to indulge him as well, saying, "I'm just impressed Harry didn't try to say it was only him. It wouldn't have worked, the magic would register them all, but it's interesting he's not even thought of cheating the system even now."

"Truly Lily's Fawn," Sirius chuckled, never having more appreciated the blend of his best mate and the wife in this kid, and all the more fascinated he'd grown as such without having them around.

"Don't encourage them," Lily shivered, as that's all they needed, to get Sirius out of one danger only for him to be executed on the spot by some Ministry fool.

Sirius managed an awkward kind of laugh they had a badge for that, though he was sure it was much simpler and the voice only reprinted the 'business.'

Lily's innards gave another squeeze, the pain as if fresh all over again. The visitors entrance should have been closed after visiting hours, the security guard should have at once noted their entrance. Impossibly, this was feeling more dangerous by the word.

"So do I," Sirius muttered, unable to think of the consequences if they weren't.

"I have been wondering what Hermione would think of that thing," Sirius mock cheered.

James wrapped his arm tight around Sirius, to pull him in even closer, and try to muffle him for just a moment.

Whatever composure Sirius had once held finally slipped away, his breath came out in a hiss that may well have been his last. "Hermione was right."

"Sirius?" James demanded in concern.

"This is a set up," Lily was almost too horrified to whisper the words. "There should always be someone there!"

"Why?!" Remus rasped, his voice far more hoarse than after any full moon as this set in.

"I don't know," Sirius murmured, eyes locked on Harry's. It was a miracle if his pup could even hear them; he was stiff, pale, and looked in far more pain than they'd yet seen him which was

really saying something. It terrified them all, that Harry had been set up and Sirius was the key in this happening, and they had just as many answers to this as they did if Sirius was going to be okay!

It made them all realize at once though, this was why Sirius hadn't yet been cast off as no use for whatever Voldemort wanted him to get, because Sirius wasn't supposed to be the one getting it. Somehow, he needed Harry for this, and Voldemort was just playing with a new toy in the meantime until Harry got there. The moment he arrived though...kill the spare, echoed in the back

of all their minds so loud Voldemort could have been standing in the room hissing it for their ears.

'Normally it would have,' Remus found the urge somewhere in him to agree, but it helped nothing to still his thready heart beats. If even there was someone at the Ministry, it would only be another spare now...every single person with Harry somehow felt in even more danger than before this trap had been sprung.

Harry's grip was turning bruising on his own head, he looked likely to rip his own ear off in moments. The deep feeling gnawing at him all year, warning of this place had finally come full front in understanding. He pleaded with his mind to take it back, he wouldn't make this mistake again, but as always, his pleas went ignored.

Sirius found an odd noise pushing against his vocal cords, like a laugh did want to come through at Luna's reaction to all this.

"I get what you're trying to do," James shivered, his eyes still hardly following along in here less than ever even as he kept the minimal focus on what was being said, yet always feeling each word with the intensity of the answer he needed. "I wouldn't find it a good idea though Harry, being separated at a time like this when you have no clue if Voldemort's alone in there..." His voice

failed, his own words weren't enough to convey whom he suddenly feared could be in there, simply watching all this happen. Harry had been bad enough, a genuine stab in his heart, but if he was in there...

'Shouldn't that have been locked?' Harry's mind pushed that thought so violently into his consciousness he curled into himself all over again, just wishing all this pain away. His dreams, for almost a year now, had always shown him nothing but this until much later, when something had changed and it was all too twisted together for him to understand the difference now...

Lily was struggling to grasp how Harry had done it. She was a fine tuned mess just imagining all this, she'd have been running forward and screaming for him, but then she supposed, that's how

she felt right now just hearing about this. In fights with Death Eaters, against Voldemort himself, there had been no true feeling until much after the fact, and she fought for that now, some level of clear headedness Harry held in his time that seemed to be evading him in here having to relive this with them.

Some nerve ending not yet connected in his mind gave a hard thump at the reminder, far too lost in the background of memories yet collected to even be registered at a time like this.

"Why?" Remus demanded.

"To not be caught from behind," Harry said slowly, though it was getting harder by the moment to stay in the moment of answering even the simplest questions of what had been running through

his mind at the time.

"Because it's such a comfort Voldemort knew this place well enough he knew exactly where to go, even when he couldn't get in," Sirius said bitterly

Some absent part of James' mind honestly wondered at a time like this if Ron would get jealous of that too. Sirius must be rubbing off on him.

"How the bloody hell did you end up in a maze again?" Remus demanded before he'd even thought of his own words; while Harry finally lost his fight and cried out in pain. His dry heaves

promised any moment he was going to start vomiting all over again.

"I'm sorry!" Remus gasped, he couldn't believe he'd just said that! "I'm so sorry Harry, I-"

Harry didn't hear anymore, couldn't see anything but the dark black of the endless room and a graveyard.

"Moony, you idiot," Sirius primly informed him while Harry buried his face into Sirius' shoulder.

"I-"

"Shh," James shushed him, watching his son and thinking back to the other night, Harry calling out for Sirius with such insistence. It was all too clear why now, and Remus apologizing for his mouth getting away from him was not at all going to be held against him by them.

Past Harry's own heaving mind, it took him quite some time to hear anything else, and the first thing he heard was Sirius muttering something. This was hurting like nothing before, if ever he'd had one memory he wouldn't gain back it would have been whatever was waiting at the end of this particular journey, but finally he gained some stability back in him when he leaned back and looked his godfather in the face.

Scared didn't cover it, but somehow Remus' words also left him reeling from a different kind of pain, yet a reminder all the same of what he'd lived through. He'd been so sure he was going to die that night in the graveyard and he'd been wrong then, maybe he had this all wrong and it wasn't Sirius' life in danger but his own? If he came close to death again, that could certainly be what had him so far stretched for this day. Yes, that must be it, if he somehow traded himself for Sirius and

something almost happened to him, he without a doubt could handle that. He turned back to his mother and finally found in him the steadiness he'd possed when going to rescue Sirius, now that

he was much more easily able to ignore the fright from his past trying to tell him what was happening.

Remus still looked miserable he'd scared Harry so bad, but at the same time they all felt more hopeful than ever for the outcome that had to be true. Harry wasn't going to let what happened to

Cedric happen again, that look of determination on his face promised that, right?

"How the bloody hell do people actually work in this place?" Harry muttered belligerently. He may be sitting at a better place, but it hardly improved his mood past grating frustration he was still in there rather than running out with his godfather and friends.

"I have no clue," Lily said honestly, though she now had every intentions of asking someone, just in case.

James made a huffy little noise, still wanting someone nearer to blame and landing on Hermione again, why had Harry wanted her to come along again if he'd said himself he didn't need her

advice.

"Probably best not to go admitting right now I had no clue what I was doing," Harry said morosely, though no one had needed that pause explained.

"All six of you should have tried a door at once," Remus ruffled his brow as he tried to work this out. "You said there's a dozen doors, give half of them a push, and then do the others."

"I'm wondering if they even could," Sirius disagreed. "I'll bet you can't open more than one at once."

"Plus, his friends were right, they really shouldn't be separated, even like that," James shivered yet again, though he'd never quite stopped. "Probably best to all focus on one at a time."

"This place gets creepier every minute," Sirius shifted restlessly, not wanting to know what kind of classes were held in there.

"What?" Remus barked in disgust.

Lily's squidged up face made it clear she had not misread that as she continued.

James could think of nothing to say to that but, "Why?"

"For you I'm sure, clearly the first one wasn't doing you any good," Sirius offered.

James shook his head in disbelief at his idiotic friend even as that did manage to make him smile just for a moment again, though a reply escaped him, far too busy trying to get Lily to go on.

Lily wondered if she was the only one who remembered Snape, how positive she was he'd understood Harry and had sent word of what had happened. That meant the Order should have been there by now, honestly beaten Harry here as they'd have a much faster way of it. Was this already taken care of, Sirius was fine, and now they were searching for the kids? She certainly hoped so, though her fingers cramping along the pages only tensed more with hurt this couldn't just be done with, the suspense was going to kill her faster than anything now.

"How do you close a door without a handle?" Sirius muttered.

"Close it as you leave you ding-dong," Remus huffed back, though he wasn't surprised that was a concept that escaped him.

"That's brilliant," James didn't have a touch of grudge in his voice as he complimented this, telling his mind to stop taking this out on Hermione when she was still the only one coming up with recurring plans for this.

The fear for Sirius' life was still running rampant through Lily, but some intrigue for this place was coloring just a bit of her tone so she finally didn't feel like she was reading about an Inferi. That brain room, now this, the Department of Mysteries really lived up to its name.

She dared not glance up at Harry again when he'd finally marshaled himself into control being in here, and everyone else was still keeping one protective eye on Sirius and the other on her for some kind of change that wasn't the kids poking around. Haste still left them all twitchy with no real movement to be had in here.

So they all missed the dread flinging back into Harry, whatever sense of security he'd once had failing him again as memory of this room was replaced...

"What the hell is that?" Sirius muttered, his lower lip sticking out slightly as he concentrated on this alone rather than where he was possibly one door off.

"It, sounds like a lethifold," Remus began a bit curiously, explaining for Harry's benefit even as he hadn't quite noticed yet he wasn't really paying much attention to the chatter around him. "Also known as a living shroud, it honestly looks like a shadow moving, it creeps up on people in their sleep and envelopes them, they pass right through it and are never seen again, I suppose they're eaten alive. Only known defence for it is actually a Patronus, which is why they're classified so

dangerous, though they don't cause the same effects as a dementor. They're mainly found in the tropics though, I suppose they could be studying this one-"

"Must you relate everything back to beasts," James muttered with a small shake to his head, wishing he had more energy to pick on Moony for this. His father used to speak of the Department of Mysteries just like Arthur did, and whatever information was passed around only spoke of how ancient the place was, possibly the whole Ministry had been built around this one area. James honestly didn't think this was something so passable as that, and he had a nagging feeling this well could be the actual center of the whole place, and he didn't at all like the sound of it.

Sirius gave a heavy sigh as he gave Harry's shoulder a comforting squeeze, noting how hard he was trembling again and still hoping he'd appear at Harry's side any moment now so they could all

get out of there.

"I somehow doubt Voldemort has me hiding behind that puny thing with him," Sirius rolled his eyes as obvious as it was possible to do to keep Harry's attention now.

Harry dragged his eyes to his godfather's face, there was a truth and a lie somewhere in there, and it was impossible to know which was what.

"Oh great, this thing is even creepier than the last thing they came across!" Remus grumbled.

"Harry doesn't go through it," Sirius shrugged with confidence for that.

"Hermione gets him away," James agreed, trying to push Lily onto that part already.

Harry was still watching Sirius, his vision shaking so bad he could have fallen into a seizure any moment and not known the difference.

"Sirius isn't there Harry," James said through gritted teeth, he couldn't understand why Harry hadn't left yet when he realized this.

Lily grasped his hand with one of hers, looking first to him before telling Harry, "it's alright love, you'll get there."

Suddenly the image of The Mirror of Erised came back to Harry clearer than ever, and he had no will to understand why.**

Lily felt her skin crawl, and it took all of her will to repress rubbing her hands along her arms, though somehow James understood anyways and did it for her. She snuggled into his weathered

hands, grateful and wondering at how he managed to spare even a second of attention for her when he still could hardly breath in fear for what was happening to his brother.

"Hermione really dosen't like this thing," Sirius pointed out.

"She doesn't understand it, and she has no immediate way to. Of course she doesn't," James shrugged.

Remus also was getting the start of a suspicion that Hermione had another reason somewhere in there, she had no connection to this thing.

Remus had almost thought he'd had it for a second. His original idea wasn't holding as well, but considering lethifolds attacked those while they slept, perhaps they did create some form of

whisper of their previous victims? All three who could see the Thestrals were apparently entranced by it, what if that thing spoke of death? Yet Ginny had apparently been affected by it

to...but then again, she'd been a breath away from death in the Chamber. He made a disgruntled noise and told his mind to shut up, he had no want to linger on this place, Harry hopefully would

never have to suffer another death again and the place was irrelevant.

"Hermione used to think I was dangerous too, oh, no wait, that one's still true," Sirius looked so proud of himself reminding them of that. It seemed impossible he was worried about his ego at a time like this, but clearly he was picturing Harry coming across him any second and seeing him in the most degrading position he could ever be in his life.

Harry just shook his head at his godfather, he'd never agreed with Hermione more in his life.

"Is that one it?" James hissed, his hands tightening almost painfully around his wife now though Lily didn't feel a second of discomfort, it was grounding and helped her not to fly out of her mind with worry.

"No, no, must be something you need special access to," Remus babbled at the top of his lungs, trying to ignore his tunnel vision. "Everything else has been open and too easy, this must be

something else."

Harry agreed, he had a funny little frown in place even as he said aloud, "yeah, don't think I actually go into this room."

Lily made a breathy little noise, some combination of discomfort and relief, her heart really was going to sink right out of her soon if this didn't end.

"I wouldn't exactly be surprised, that spell doesn't fix everything, there's charms you can use to block charms," Lily muttered.

James moved to brushing at her hair, for the first time recognizing how grateful he was she was the one reading this. He wasn't sure what he'd do with himself when hers ended and if his began without any resolution but still more problems.

Sirius looked offended! "Oi, what the bloody hell is behind that thing!"

"Now I really don't want to know," Lily muttered, if it was warded powerfully enough to stop conventional means, she was more sure than ever it really was something she didn't want her son

around.

"I can understand that though," James sighed, another part of his life saying how cool all of this would have been to poke around any other circumstances.

'Oh, so now his dreams are credible,' Remus thought bleakly, wishing for this attitude hours ago instead of for the first time wondering how long Frank and Alice had suffered before their damage had been irreparabile...

"I'm sure she'll tell us," James told with whatever affection he could muster for a person who wasn't Sirius right now.

"Why was the wall moving? You didn't open a door," Remus muttered.

"I guess the room took that as intent and did it anyways," Harry shrugged.

No one managed one in here, though Hermione's sarcasm right now was at least appreciated.

"Oh boy," James stated, trying to look over Lily's shoulder, to find at any moment what was going to happen already.

Lily wasn't giving him the chance, making sure he couldn't hurt himself by reading ahead by continuing loudly with determination now, this had to be the end, they couldn't stand anymore delays.

Harry released a suddenly heavy breath. For the first time since his vision of Sirius, his eyes traveled unfocused again, a memory trying to return to him, and he could almost hear the echo of

someone calling his name, Harry, watch out-

"Harry?"

Lily had frozen, everyone realized what he was doing now, and he softly whispered, "I wasn't having a go at my memories, I swear, just, this place-"

"You've been dreaming about it for ages, it's natural to start feeling overcrowded now remembering a dream coming to life," Sirius told him with comfort he was sure would help Harry

to stop looking at him with that desperate face any second.

Harry didn't answer, the memory was already fading away but leaving him in no less dread of what happened in this place on any occasion.

"It's a room for time," Sirius muttered in fascination, though for just a second he had a walk over the grave moment. Last time his life had been saved due to a time-turner, he didn't like the

premonition Harry was walking through a room dedicated to studying that just before fetching his arse. He only hoped if something went wrong, at least Harry could come across something to help him this time as well.

Lily couldn't help but still, every rampant emotion coursing through her reaching it's peak all at once, and finally ebbing off for just a moment so she could collect herself. No more waiting, no more wondering, Harry was there, and whatever happened, was going to happen.

"Why would you start-"

Remus was shushed again, and he'd never been more grateful for it. He more than anyone wished his mind would shut off, it hurt to breath enough as is without wasting the air on stupid questions.

Harry could hardly hear his mother, his own pulse thumping so loud in his ear. He cared not for anything but the steady presence of his godfather on his side, watching more than listening to those around him, it was too hard to take in every word but each syllable was held with all his concentration.

It happened all at once, five heart beats stilled until every possible thing went flying through their mind too fast; he'd been stowed away, he was being tortured somewhere else now and brought

back in front of Harry when needed- Harry made a noise first. Half a sob of relief, half a scream of surprise, and all around one of confusion.

Lily looked to him for some kind of answer, but it was impossible. He was actually making even less sense now than when the vision had first started. All they knew was a combination of their own fear and confusion, where was Sirius?

"I, don't, understand," James said slowly, scrutinizing Sirius now like he was still worried he'd vanish any second.

"Maybe, the Order really did come and help out already?" Remus tried to offer.

Lily shivered hard, something tight refusing to unclench in her as that still was no answer for the state Sirius was in.

Harry had no answer for any of them, feeling more every moment he only wished those around him would remain in this state of confusion, whatever lingering hope they were clinging to, because once that ended...

"That's, supposed to be a good thing, Lily," Sirius said every word carefully, trying with all his might to put that into his own tone, but it was hard going.

"Right you are," Lily agreed without looking up. She'd gone in with this expecting some sort of fight between Harry and Voldemort again, now they felt more in limbo, a never ending state of fear for never being given an answer.

"Then that's what happened!" James stated, there was no other option. "Clearly something happened in the meantime."

"The Order, or Merlin, maybe even the Ministry did find some way to step in," Remus uneasily agreed, trying to nod his head but really only getting a jerky movement in before Lily ignored the

lot of them. She could feel they were trying to push into something more bearable, but her terror still resided.

Sirius hummed, nestled as he was it was harder to focus on what that could have been as he still kept eyes on Harry. He was more concerned his Godson may still well run into trouble before he

caught up with him now, the idea of that ambush, that this was all set up had yet to be explained anymore than, well anything!

"You're not stupid!" Remus said at once, the word never should have crossed his mind when clearly something had happened, Harry just didn't know what yet.

"And Ron would never suggest otherwise," James agreed vehemently.

"Err," Sirius said with genuine concern now.

Lily blinked slowly, an itch at the nap of her neck promising this wasn't the kind of answer she'd been hoping for.

"This is where the weapon's supposed to be," Remus recalled slowly, this information coming back to him now that their panic for Sirius had subsided for a moment.

"What are the odds something relating to Harry would be in the same place?" James agreed with a detached horror, he didn't believe in coincidences.

"That's a weapon?" Lily tried to scoff, not wanting to believe what they were trying to say for a moment.

"It's, something," Sirius agreed uneasily, as a memory tried to offer up what this could be, his old aunt telling a couple of kids the secrets the Ministry held.

Lily grumbled, but honestly paid it not too much mind, she still wanted more than anything to hear of Harry being out of there.

"Maybe they're in alphabetical order," Remus said snidely.

"Or Ron's just not important enough," Sirius shrugged.

"Well don't tell him that," Lily huffed.

"Neither do I!" Lily shrieked as she looked to Harry like he'd lost his mind. "Are you crazy Harry! You shouldn't be touching anything in there! Sirius wasn't in there, so you either keep looking for him or try to find someone else to find out what's going on!"

Harry kept wincing like each word had struck a blow in him.

Lily had seen she was on the last page, and while she wanted to keep informing him what an idiot her son was being, she supposed she could do that later when whatever this was stopped feeling

like a mouse trap ready to snap shut. None of them had forgotten, this still felt like a trap, he'd made it here without any resistance from anyone, and they had no more explanation to that than when they started, only more questions.

"Err, does it have an on switch?" Remus asked through that tingling feeling raising down his spine was quickly coursing out to the rest of his body, already leaving his fingers twitching for his wand any second.

"Don't know," Sirius honestly muttered, whatever details he'd tried to attain from his forgotten youth too mixed up to be of help now. "Maybe they should try breaking it open."

"That's your answer to everything," James huffed.

"He still shouldn't have even grabbed it," Lily snapped at the lot of them, anger was replacing fear, she wanted to smack her son upside the head for doing this when all she wanted him to do

now was leave.

"Who was that?" James demanded slowly.

Harry didn't even hear him, he didn't care! "Sirius isn't there," unbelievably that relief was still holding Harry together, even as something very painful tried to warn his hopes from springing too high, and he blissfully ignored it all. He'd been wrong, he'd suffered those consequences, and he wouldn't let them fall him again.

He got up and stretched, trying to walk away for just a moment to ignore that heavy weight mashing down on him for trying to remember something too early, for still feeling a part of him

that knew that not to be true. Remus watched him go uncertainly, Harry growing more jittery by the second was not at all encouraging as they now had even more questions of who'd arrived, all but him seemed to agree it wasn't going to be a good thing!

Lily mutely handed the book to James while Sirius gave a flick of his wand and the living room righted itself. The couple got whizzed back across the room still partially seated and both glared at his innocent smile. James gazed heavily at the stupid book, wishing now more than ever Harry'd taken Sirius' offer when it had been given and skipped past all this while they had a chance. They'd suffered for nothing apparently, his idiot of a brother was okay, he must be! That was probably Moody right behind them, to tell them where Sirius finally was and get Harry out of there.

HPHPHP

One thing no matter how much I hate to tell you guys because I'm well aware it makes me the worst person in existence, I won't be getting a chapter up again until Monday. I know! I'm sorry!

Honestly as much as you guys hate me I hate myself just as much, you don't know how badly I want to see your reactions!

* This one still manages to make me laugh every single time, Ron just has that effect on me I suppose.

** I also imagine Cedric said something along the lines of 'I don't blame you,' but I couldn't work out how to add that in.

***I also love the symbolism they go from the door of death to the door of love, feels appropriate.


	35. BEYOND THE VEIL

I've had a looong week! This got taken down on my fanfiction profile, so I spent a whole day being depressed, and another in being panicky thinking it was going to be taken down everywhere

so I had to spend several days going around and checking on my fic to make sure I still had copies! It hasn't been taken down here yet though, and I will put up at least the rest of this book, while I still can...

At this point I wouldn't blame you if you don't believe me, but I swear I didn't set it up on purpose that James would get this chapter of all chapters! Kind of better than Harry...right?

To DepressedTiger: That one was fascinating to the maximum. I really do love poetry, it's so beautiful how you have to restrict a story and still manage to convey just as much as any word I'm

extremely happy I saved them all when I had the chance!

HPHPHP

James weighed the book uncertainly in his hand, though watching Harry was infinitely heavier. Harry was very clearly trying his hardest to push out for all of them that now Sirius wasn't there,

everything should be okay, but not a one of them were fooled. He would not sit down, pacing anxiously along the length of the couch now that he had the room to stretch, but still hovering near Sirius more than was called for with what his own words said. The new voice that had just arrived did not feel like a good thing, not many people called Harry by his last name.

So did they, but James couldn't bring himself to believe it until he said.

"Death Eaters!" Sirius spat. How was it even possible by this point the day would continue to grow worse by the second.

Though none of them had been fool enough to think at least some of Voldemort's minions wouldn't accompany him on whatever this was, the fact that the kids hadn't walked into some roaring battle left them with just a second of hope whatever had happened with Sirius had already been resolved. Now they became all to aware of that ambush.

"How did this even happen?" James demanded of nothing. He was far past his means for normal thought for the day, he still didn't even know if Sirius was okay for being in Voldemort's presence

for how many hours!

"I can see it," Remus muttered uneasily, though his dry throat made it hard to keep going with his own thoughts. "Snape would have told what Harry said, the Order would have reacted getting in and out as fast as possible. We'd of course be weary and suspicious as hell-"

"That's a lot of if's and maybe's," Sirius hissed. "We still don't even know the Order found me-"

"Shut up Sirius," they all said at once.

Sirius scowled at the lot of them. He didn't like to think of the alternative either, but them pretending it hadn't happened wasn't going to make it better.

Lily pulled at the only spot of good she could find in Remus' idea, "so that means the Order may still be nearby."

James didn't see how that was making her feel any better, as he forced himself to keep going with his stomach turned into such a tight knot he was confident it wasn't ever going to come loose.

"How many were there?" Remus rasped. He'd stupidly been envisioning just Malfoy, maybe one or two others that could go in and out of the Ministry, but that meant there were at least a dozen!

When Harry whispered as much, nobody wanted to believe him. Moments before they'd been sure they were fixing to hear about Sirius dying in this black abyss of a place, now they were

wondering how Harry had gotten out! If all of his friends had...

"Keep going James!" Lily hissed, smacking him on the arm hard.

"Right, yeah," he muttered, having to forcefully drag his eyes back to the print, his heart still thudding so hard in his chest he'd blame that on the reason for his stuttering words.

"That's not an answer," Lily said venomously.

"They aren't gloating they still have him," Remus clutched to this idea like a lifeline. "They're just screwing with Harry."

"No, he doesn't," James countered at once, all the times his son had beaten Voldemort hovering right in his mind's eye now, he'd find a way out of this for everyone.

"Prophecy's," Sirius whispered, causing Harry to shake worse than ever as they all looked to him. "I knew I remembered something about those. My Aunt's mentioned them, the one who said she

was a Seer. She told me about Prophecy's at the Ministry..."

"What do those have to do with anything?" Remus demanded faintly, he'd certainly never had a care for these types of things before one nearly ruined Sirius' life.

"She ah, went into rather great detail," Sirius struggled to explain while keeping a casual tone, growing harder by the word as chills were emanating from Harry more every second. "About,

how they look, and the Ministry puts the initials on them of the Seer and who the Prophecy was spoken to, who it's for-"

"So this Prophecy was made for Dumbledore from, okay that could be anyone." Lily muttered as remembered those initials.

"What makes you say Dumbledore?!" James put his hands up in frustration they were all talking around him and he just wanted to hear of Harry being out of there, to find out where Sirius was

now!

"The initials," Lily repeated them. "Those are the initials to his full name, that's how he'd even know about this weapon Voldemort wants."

"Well those aren't Voldemort's real initials," Sirius pointed out for the other one, "and I wonder why there's a question mark on before Harry's name."

"No, but it's about Voldemort," Remus agreed. "If someone like your Aunt was the person who

put it in there, I'm not surprised they referred to him as Dark Lord. Why's it lit up though, when

others were darkened out?" Remus asked, deciding now it was relevant he may as well interrogate

Sirius for all this.

"Best guess, those that have happened go dark, and those that have yet to, stay lit," Sirius offered, screwing his face up to think back to that nine year old chatting with spooky old Aunt Misapinoa who always wore a shroud around her face.

Lily wasn't aware her heart could go numb until the sensation coiled around her chest, the only thing really helping her understand the words, "so, what? This, thing, what kind of weapon is it? A Prophecy about Voldemort and Harry, and it was made before he was even born." She didn't regret putting her infant away from all this, but suddenly she wanted him right back in her arms now, wondering if Dumbledore knew this existed now, did you have to be there for a Prophecy to be put in the Department of Mysteries? Voldemort had known about it before that Death Eater that worked in there had given details. Was there someone in the Order watching it that even they didn't know about?

"This is insane," Sirius huffed, even the one who'd believed in Seer magic all his life was having a hard time wrapping his mind around this. "The last one we heard didn't exactly have a wealth of information, bloody hell it wasn't even talking about the person I thought it was. What does Voldemort think he's going to get out of this?"

"This is all fascinating," James said, still too high strung to really make himself sound like that as he told Sirius, "but you're pulling shit out of your arse, and I'd rather just hear about it away from there by now!"

Sirius huffed, he was only trying to help, but didn't stop James as he tried to keep going.**

Sirius blinked slowly, he had not heard mockery like that in many long years already...

James wasn't doing a very good job on that mocking voice, he'd never be able to mock his child for something like this, but even still, his voice didn't particularly come out like his own at the end.

"Does she really get some kind of glory from mocking him?" Remus tried to say in some kind of disgust, but it didn't come out quite right.

Lily couldn't speak, the ghastly pallor of her skin promised nothing coherent anyways.

Harry couldn't feel his own mouth, it was as if something else was speaking through him, "Hermione was right-"

"No she wasn't," Remus hissed, his eyes too bright. "It's not possible, Voldemort couldn't- he didn't know- how could she- how could anyone-"

"Moony-" Sirius tried to say, a look of dawning horror pushing fear for his own future into an even more unstable regards seeing as now he had no clue what was even real anymore.

"Later," James snarled at the both of them. His whole body was still shaking from the pounding of his heart, and whatever was the truth would have to be just that, later, he had to hear about his son living through this first.

"Damn straight." Sirius said with absolution. Whatever was going on here, Harry wasn't going to take that lying down, at least that was one solid thing he could get his head around.

"Probably from the last time where he beat him in front of all of them!" Lily stated, trying to shift her weight into her own fighting stance and having to forcefully remember there were no Death Eaters in her living room now, threatening her family. She'd saved her son last time, but it had been Harry that had brought her and James there, he'd find a way out from this too.

James gave not a second to spare that Sirius may have been right on what these things were, he didn't care about anything anymore unless it involved his son and friends running back out of

there.

"No Harry," Lily said at once, hating to cut James off now more than ever, but she wouldn't let him think this for a second. "You were only doing what you thought was right at the time, no one

would ever-"

Harry couldn't hear the rest. He was sure there was more, but the moment she stopped he gave a jerky nod in whatever agreement that was supposed to be just so his dad would keep going.

Lily was not at all appeased, she knew by the fact his face didn't change one bit he hadn't heard her, but there would be time for him to hear here after he was out of there.

"Maybe even give you some pocket money for the journey," James sneered under his breath, unable to stop his own sharp tongue responding to such ludicrousy.

"They just gave an advantage," Remus said quietly, low under his breath like he was only trying to speak to those around him. Adrenaline was telling all of them to get ready for a right.

Sirius leaned in protectively close to Harry, the urge burning to tell him just how not stupid this was, none of this was his fault, but Harry was still thinking of the more important issue at hand, keeping his wits, they could handle this issue later.

Sirius snarled fiercely, as if all his hair would go on end if it could. He suddenly couldn't decide if it would even be better for that pathetic rat to be there instead, but that deranged being around his godson actually felt worse.

"That's one of the vermin who tormented Frank and Alice," Lily shrieked in outrage.

James muttered a desperate plea as if in prayer before managing to keep going no matter how much it strained his voice. His eyes burned so much it was a miracle he could still see the words,

he couldn't believe it had somehow all come back to Harry being near that twisted being.

"No!" Harry said that with such force, James actually stopped for a moment just to glance at him in concern. The flat, sharp word had promised death to the first person who so much as looked at

Ginny the wrong way now, which James could honestly appreciate as he felt the same towards Lily, though he was sure it wasn't the exact same for Harry.

Remus shifted his weight restlessly even as he felt Harry was to be congratulated for putting himself in their line of fire. He had the object they so wanted, and was least likely to be killed of all those kids.

"Better than screaming panic," Lily assured, that was still half of her mind.

"Not really, no," Remus muttered, though even his own mouth wasn't registering to his own ears.

"So is she saying pure-bloods could?" Sirius tried for a bland tone of voice in mocking back, though he'd never more felt the urge to simply slam a door shut on some member of his family's

face.

He was ignored by James anyways, they'd never less cared about the taboo on Voldemort's name most people carried, especially his own followers. James wished Harry wouldn't choose now to provoke these Death Eaters even as he commended it on further keeping them off guard.

"Are you mad!" Lily shrieked, watching her son and expecting him to drop dead any second now. "To tell that to them now!"

"I don't blame him," James frowned heavily at that even while wanting to clap him on the shoulder. "Piss them off well enough, they'll stop thinking, kids can make a run for it."

"Go big or go home," Remus said faintly, thinking of all the times for Harry to let his own mouth get away from him.

"You're lucky that's the curse she sent!" Sirius screeched in Harry's ear. He remembered his own times when he had showed even a little rebellion in questioning what Voldemort was doing, what

his family would do to punish him for that. It was an actual miracle none had tried to draw Harry's blood for that comment alone.

Harry had winced and rubbed at his ear as he looked to Sirius, his right hand still trying to curl around nothing, like he had the prophecy clasped there now.

"Well I guess we figured out how to work them," Sirius said faintly.

"Wonder if you even could repair that," Remus muttered, though honestly thinking not, these were such heavily magical objects he couldn't even begin to guess at, they seemed beyond such

normal means of fixing as that charm. It would not at all surprise him if in fact those were now gone forever.

James mouth opened with some new disturbing noise making an appearance, and he'd thought he was all out of those. They'd all known Dumbledore was holding back answers from Harry, he'd

said so himself at the end of his first year. So this was somehow the most insulting thing Malfoy could have said, that he knew more about Harry than them!

"That'll cause plenty of distraction," Remus said, so distracted himself they were right on the edge of that answer it had almost for a moment made him forget who was giving it.

Lily could feel it, the swills at the edge of her mind as an explanation for the madness of this year lay somewhere in there, if only she could think past her own harsh breaths for her son still being in this danger.

'Every damn day since this started,' James felt the passing thought, honestly wishing now more than ever for that answer if it would somehow stop all this from happening...

James couldn't help but look to Harry desperately in that moment, like he was hoping his son would suddenly start telling them what had been inside, that all of this really hadn't been one humongous heart attack with nothing to show for it.

Harry was having a hard time looking at him though, he only felt like he was a burden of a reminder to them now more than ever. If he hadn't been born, this prophecy wouldn't have been made, they'd still be alive.

"Then why's she there?" Sirius spat hatefully, he couldn't believe Bellatrix would bring this up now. "It's no more implausible!" He wasn't going to let anyone insult Harry's intelligence, especially because they'd all been thinking the same thing.

"That is a relatively good question," Remus agreed in disgust, wondering at the planning to all this, how the Death Eaters had managed to infiltrate the Ministry and leave the area so clear for Harry and his friends to come. "Just not important right now Pads."

Sirius grumbled even as he agreed, several curses still flipping through his mind for the start of a fight he wasn't involved in.

"It is remarkable how fast you put that together," Lily praised even as she stayed trained on the book, on the answer of how badly this had gone wrong before he'd come here.

Harry could feel that pulsing adrenaline thudding through him now, how even as his hand wanted to remain fastened tight around his wand he still wanted to grab the nearest person and make a run for it in all the chaos, his hand still around nothing though apparently convinced he was holding that precious spun glass now. It was helping nothing he had no good way to work that out of his

system.

Lily inhaled so sharply it hurt her own throat, but that wouldn't have stopped the curse exploding half the living room if James hadn't kept going on the same breath.

"I can't believe they got out of that," Remus sagged against the back of his seat, honestly needing the support as he couldn't make his own limbs stop shaking.

"No," Harry gasped, the word not nearly enough to cover the terror pumping through him now.

James was honestly seized with that exact same fear for a moment. He had no true connection to the Weasley kids, had only known of Luna's existence because of his son, but he couldn't imagine

anything happening to them either without wanting to shed an honest tear. These were just a bunch of kids with Death Eaters hounding them!

"Harry," Sirius said desperately, as his breaths had been coming out in sharp little gasps of pain. "Harry, they're going to be fine, all of them, you trained them!"

Harry looked to him in mostly disbelief, and a little hope. "You think I'm so good a teacher, I taught them enough to get away from Death Eaters!" His voice was very near shouting at the end,

wanting Sirius to hear clearly how stupid he was being for this idea.

"They've gotten this far," Sirius reminded, his eyes wide and pleading, "so have you. No need to go hurting yourself if you've got confidence," he tried to actually end with a smile.

Harry still found his godfather insane, but for now he stopped pushing at his memories no matter how hard it was. At least he had Sirius with him now, as some consolation for not knowing his

future. He didn't have Ron though, Ginny or Luna in his sights, some claim their lives weren't affected by him except these harrowing memories. He had to trust Sirius though, he had to let his dad keep going, he'd be no good to anyone if he died now simply trying to remember who lived.

"Really puts into perspective how much they all care for each other," Lily whispered, still wide eyed with far more fear for this than actual care for one of the monsters who'd caused the problem.

James voice hitched for an extra moment. He hadn't been delusional in thinking otherwise, but the words sounded so careless he couldn't believe he'd let them pass his lips!

"So, go anywhere but left," Sirius hissed, still refusing to think of Harry anywhere near those two in particular.

"So we now have a definite amount," Remus muttered, keeping a head count. "I doubt any are still hiding Malfoy doesn't know about."

"Eleven," James agreed, "where's Goyle?"

"Probably the one Nott was trying to rouse, likely knocked out," Lily murmured.

"Lets just hope he hasn't gone for backup," Sirius said dangerously, none of them able to quite grasp the emotion of relief one in particular wasn't there, they wouldn't know how to handle that feeling right now.

"Good a start as any," Remus muttered.

Lily worried heavily at her lip, still trying to envision what the right move was, to run or ambush. As of now, they outnumbered the Death Eaters, so this was likely the best strategy, but it was all the more frustrating she couldn't offer the advice, she'd never felt more useless just sitting here and knowing it had already happened.

"That won't keep him down long, be sure you at least take his wand away before you keep going," Sirius couldn't help but caution, thinking the Order had better show up soon!

James almost couldn't get the spell out, more from shock than anything it was really going so far already, but then Harry was trying to jump to his feet in true alarm and Sirius had to rope his arm around him to keep him in place and hiss in his ear to listen for James to finish to know that didn't happen.

Harry could still hardly breath for a moment, still fighting back the impulse to do the same in here with nothing to show for it, he was going to drive himself mad and was half tempted to ask

someone to take his wand away in fear he'd curse one of them by mistake if this kept up!

None of the others seemed worried of this fact, Sirius loosened his hold on Harry even as they all still felt the same urge they were having to beat back. None of them had ever sat idle in a fight and this felt near as bad as doing just that.

"That'll do some good!" Remus yelped, though he'd jerked hard in surprise of that spell coming out, not recommended as it would send both targets wands flying! He just couldn't find it in him to scold Neville either, at least he was still reacting and thinking on his feet.

James made a noise of approval even while he couldn't stop again, to know who got there first, at least Neville was correcting his mistake, he'd learn his way around a fight yet even if he'd still

wish the poor kid never to be in one like this anymore than his own child.

"A use for those I never thought of," Sirius spared the breath for Harry even as his every attention was still trained more on his past than his present.

"I'd have let Neville have another go," Remus said with disdain even as he was finally thankful Hermione was there as well.

"Which Death Eater was that?" James barked at Harry, hoping his son would recognize the scum that had actually tried to kill Hermione.

"Best guess, Crabbe, err, senior," Harry admitted, not having recognized him exactly, but the facial similarities had been there, though he had a distinct feeling they wouldn't remain for long...

Sirius realized his advice before hadn't crossed Harry's mind either time, and it was something very twisted to him this was the first real scrum Harry had been in regarding the war, and he had no foreseeable backup!

"Err," Lily said without a touch of concern but some honest confusion.

"I could have said don't stick your face in that, but I guess he wasn't going to hear," Sirius said as he eyed that curiously.

"Don't care," James muttered, thinking whatever magic was in there could do whatever it pleased to that Death Eater and continuing more loudly still.

"The stunner wouldn't have worn off that fast," Remus yelped.

"Who knows what kind of magic is in that thing, maybe it negated it," Sirius muttered uneasily.

"Oh, my, word." Lily managed to say as she sat back in her seat, just the thought of this happening to someone had her wanting to back away in surprise.

"There's karma somewhere in there," James muttered as he furiously flipped the page, his intrigue more than smothered by still wanting to haul his son out of there rather than investigating this thing.

James was finding it harder and harder to brush past something so utterly disturbing to him, though he wasn't sure if he'd find it in himself to stick the Death Eater's head back in to repair it

before knocking him out more effectively...

"I, don't-" That was all Remus could get out. Somewhere in there was a fascinating turn of conversation, but honestly too much else was going on for him to get into it. James still had a

twisted look on his face even as he kept going, maybe he could bring it up later with Harry.

Harry was vaguely surprised no one had blamed him for that in here, but honestly it seemed because they would have done the same. Despite his own internal warning, nothing could stop

someone for shouting now in all this mayhem.

Sirius still had his mouth half open, the urge to question how on earth that was a functioning moving thing still present, but James just didn't want to hear it from any of them. All he was really thinking was, two down.

Lily cursed heavily, knowing both of those using the spell at once would do far more damage than just temporarily slowing her child.

Sirius still had it somewhere in him to note irony in that even if he had no ability to laugh at it.

"Those idiots, they could have smashed the prophecy," Remus sneered through his own mounting worry they were going to make Harry loose his only advantage.

"Priorities Moony," Sirius grumbled, clearly misunderstanding, "I want to hear that too, but lets focus on Harry getting out first."

Remus didn't bother to correct his point.

Sirius choked, his arm fell fully away in surprise-

"Cultrohexia-" Remus tried to begin explaining, recognizing that look on Harry's face and hoping to stop him panicking for just one second she wasn't dead, but too late.

"No!" Harry tore from his seat, but instead of their fears, he fled to the kitchen. They found him trying not to apprate, but kicking furiously at the table as he glared with fury up at the ceiling.

"Harry-"

"I have to go back!" Harry roared, not looking at any of them. "I can't, they can't- I have to get back there!"

"Harry listen to yourself!" Lily insisted as she tried darting around in front of him, but she may as well not have been there. "This happened to you when you were fifteen, you're older now,

whatever happened you can't help them with that now-"

"Something was happening to them right- argh!"

"Harry! Oh, Harry-" Lily pleaded, kneeling down with him as he began sinking to the floor, holding his head again.

"We can't keep doing this," James said as he watched him curling into himself in pain while kneeling down on his other side and glaring at the book hatefully for causing all this. They never

should have started these things, there had to be an easier way for Harry to regain his memories. "He's going to kill himself trying to remember what happened to them-"

"Then we'll stop him," Sirius snapped, striding over to get the potion and force him to relax again.

"Sirius."

The high note, pleading voice forced him to hesitate and glance back at him for a second.

The only thing stopping the thick fog from clearing Harry's mind and leaving the rest of his body in a state of pain that wasn't bearable, was somehow still his godfather. He still wanted more than anything the assurance his friends had survived this day, but Sirius was still here with him now, and no matter how much Harry had been pretending otherwise, there was something more

pressing than memories he couldn't grasp. This was ridiculous, Sirius wasn't even there, how could he still be more worried about his godfather at this time? It wouldn't shake off though,

clinging like a shield he'd had no intentions of putting up. One memory at a time, he had to know what happened to him first.

He couldn't breath, this made no sense, so the instant Sirius was at his side with the vial, he took it gratefully, clinging to the numbness it brought even if it only lasted a few moments before he was brought back to his surroundings and forced to realize what he was doing to those around him.

"I'm sorry, I wish there was more we could do for you back then," Lily told him as she watched his green eyes flit back to any semblance of normal remembering all this could allow.

'Or, anything!' James mentally yelled, but kept that one to himself. Instead he helped him back to his feet, and it worried them all greatly Harry was still shaking. He wasn't finding any relief in here, with them, like he had when Voldemort had returned. As if his subconscious was still warning him there would be no relief, no savoir from his parents.

It did them no good to try anything else though but to keep going no matter how much they'd rather do anything else, at this point they knew they couldn't have stopped. They needed to know

Hermione was okay just as much as Harry. For all of her, annoyances, she was Harry's friend as much as Sirius was theirs. They couldn't imagine anything happening to her now anymore than

their own kid, it should have been to dismal for even this future to handle.

Lily covered half of her face to smother her gasp of surprise, all to easily picturing that happening to Alice even more than Neville and the poor mothers reaction.

Harry let out a snarl of outrage, even as he kept tight to Sirius' side he couldn't help but glance uneasily around the room, that feeling like hot lava warning theirs would not be the only death the man was responsible for. 'Please, let it not be Hermione's!' He pleaded with everything he could.

"Oh good, Harry understands silent language far better than Sirius ever did," Remus babbled uneasily.

"No, it's not!" Remus snapped. He hated watching Harry blame himself for these things, likely because he had too much practice with this himself if anything remotely went wrong around him.

"That's a bloody dangerous spell, pure dark magic that'll leave your innards like they were plunged with a knife, but the spell doesn't leave any mark. If he hadn't been silenced, it would

have been even more dangerous, but since it's a verbal only spell only half the damage was done. So long as she gets treated, she'll be fine!"

"And if she doesn't get help in time?" Harry whispered.

Remus had no answer, he didn't want to tell Harry that even the verbal spell wasn't instantaneous death because it left one slowly dying on the inside even as they were able to move around for a few minutes more while the spell took affect. Instead, he only said what they were all hoping, "she will."

Harry breathed slowly as he heard that, willing that feeling to be true more than just a simple hope.

James face puckered in agitation for trying to talk like that, and under normal circumstances he would have reveled in plugging his nose, trying to mimic this as best he could. He'd hope it would go on long enough Sirius would try his hand at it, and the two could see who could mimic this speech the best. Now all he could think was, one against eight, considering he still had no clue where the last three kids were.

Seven, James mentally corrected, though the slowly dwindling number wasn't helping anyone to breathe any easier, they were all keeping the same count and even against one the numbers would

never feel bearable no matter how good Harry was. He was only using the minimum spells of defense, there was no more force to this than he'd be using against a DA member, and that was

going to bite him in the arse later when these spells simply wore off...

James felt his limbs go weak, actually closing his eyes for a moment for the simple thanks he felt for that!

"That's a thing now," Lily shook her head, not even remotely distracted from the real matter of what her son was living through.

"No," Remus couldn't help but protest no matter how much he admired Neville for this. "He really should take off with her, he's only another target now following behind like that!"

"What if he does run into more Death Eater's though, then he won't have any way to defend himself, he needs to stick close to Harry," Sirius disagreed.

There was just no point in predicting the future, certainly no one ever would have seen this coming, so both mutually decided not to let the argument continue.

James made such a small little noise he wasn't even aware he had anymore than the others. He couldn't help it though, his mind immediately launched off with the idea, of what had happened to

his wand, and Lily's, had Remus or Sirius ever come across them and still had them after all these years? He still had his parents wands stored in his Gringotts vault, mementos of them Harry still never had from his own!

Lily shook her head slowly for this though, whispering, "I'm positive the woman will just be more thankful her only grandchild's alive." She knew she could never give enough thanks for that hearing all he'd done without her in his life.

"Please stop mentioning that, it gets more disturbing the longer I think about it," Remus huffed, though honestly he just wanted all of this to stop being mentioned already. After the year Harry

had there, he couldn't believe he'd still rather hear of him back at Hogwarts.

"Err," Sirius muttered, his brows shooting up in shock.

"Wonder what on earth magic could be used to fix that," James agreed with surprise.

Lily felt a scream building up in her own throat. Despite having just soothed Harry from doing this, she was finding it harder every second not to be wailing her own head off with worry for all of this happening.

"Oh bloody thank goodness," James moaned, feeling finally something had gone right, though he kept reading with heavy worry Luna hadn't been mentioned!

"What's wrong with Ron?" Sirius hissed, feeling as territorial of all these kids at this point as if they were all his pup.

"What did they do to him?" Lily demanded venomously, her wand still griped furiously in her hand and aching to turn that on someone any moment for hurting these kids!

"Ginny," Harry whispered, leaning forward in concern like he was trying to catch her before she fell. He couldn't believe this was happening around him, the panic was griping him so tight he

couldn't breathe!

"Oh thank Merlin!" James breathed, not having meant to say Luna's name extra loud but now at least they were all alive, and could get out of there!

"A joke's never as funny the second time," Remus said flatly, trying to give Sirius an obvious look, but both were too worried about the state Ron was in to pay attention to even their own

picking.

Harry hadn't thought it possible, but he was somehow all the more worried no one around him was trying to comfort him this was going to be okay anymore. No one had a suggestion what was

wrong with Ron, or that the exit could be right behind them now that all six were together.

"Hope it killed him," Lily spluttered in surprise for using that spell in anyone's face, but she wouldn't deny the effectiveness of anything right now.

It didn't feel possible, as James kept ushering out words practically faster than the others could follow, that it really was just Harry and Luna in able fighting condition against seven Death Eaters! Now their worry for Ron and Hermione were still rival, maybe even a little more than Harry as they could at least look at him and know he was alive and fine!

Remus tried to breath easier for just a second, trying to console himself Ginny could still fight even if she'd be far more off balance, this wasn't impossible to get out of.

"Now's not the time to be proud," Lily snapped, wanting to shove the Gryffindor streak up Ginny's nose and get those kids moving no matter how much she may have acted the same.

James could hardly think of anything else right now, let alone something like a dementor attack which would feel like a walk in the park after this nightmare, at least Harry could get himself out of that no problem, this still felt more like he was reading about someone's funeral any second. Yet at the same time, he understood it, found how much more precious and dangerous this was to Harry. He may feel it for a time if something had happened to Dudley, but now, Ron was the first family he'd had, he could not loose him any more than Sirius.

Sirius made a series of thunderous growling noises that kept starting and stopping, clearly his terror kept trying to break off how much he wanted to take her head off with or without a wand.

James could feel his breaths stuttering out in sharp gasps, 'they're pinned down, they don't have a chance to run anymore-' his mind all to happily informed him.

'Shut up,' he fought hard not to shout out loud.

James couldn't quite scream that as he could all to easily envision Luna, his voice was getting quieter the more this somehow continued to grow worse, fighting back the urge to vomit again the more his vision blurred from worry and still pushing past just to keep going.

Remus hated that was by all technicalities a good plan, Harry being the target because they could look at him and know he was okay, but putting himself in danger like that could never not stop all the air around him, and it's not like he knew that at the time so Harry was still going to hear about this later!

Lily made a squealing noise that was as much disgust as it was concern for this. "Luna didn't take away his wand!"

James ignored her no matter how much he agreed.

"Yes, do please keep being idiots," Remus muttered, his own eyes feeling swollen from widening too much recently.

James didn't need to ask why Harry had involuntarily shouted the same thing in here, why he was vibrating all over again in fear for his brother as much as he had been for his sister moments ago. They could all just feel it, this was not going to be a good thing.

Harry tried to dart forward again, to tear the book away because his father wasn't going fast enough and he had to know right now what that thing was doing to Ron, but Sirius intervened

faster this time. He caught Harry around the chest and held him fast, fearing if Harry stopped listening and tried to do this himself he'd hurt himself irreparably.

James had hardly hesitated upon Harry's movement, too involved in this himself.

Harry made a desperate noise, still struggling to get away from Sirius, but to where even he didn't know. It was too much, it all felt like a nightmare that wasn't ending, and still the worst hadn't happened, he could feel how hot his face was and how painful everything in him burned saying something terrible was going to happen, something that wasn't going to be just a spell.

Remus had never actually wanted to know what would happen if you try to use a stunning spell without pronouncing it correctly!

"Gah, how is that helping them not break the thing!" Sirius was feeling so incoherent he wasn't even sure if that was spoken in English.

Harry placed his hand on his abused rib cage, still feeling the echo of that pain as it was vividly reminded to him, but that was nothing in comparison to the torment just behind his eyes. He had

known from the moment he'd first been in this room it would not mean anything good for him, now he was standing more alone than ever. That should have been a good thing, there was no one

in there to get hurt but him.

Lily bit back yet more curses for the fact they just had to be right about that, and yet she still found it in her to plead it wasn't important for Harry to learn a lesson there, she was hardly holding herself together listening to this, afterwords the worst thing she could stand to hear of him in again was Crookshanks attacking him.

"Whoever said he wanted to be a good boy?" Sirius said distractedly, though James felt himself breath easier just for a second at Sirius still managing to say his stupid jokes even in the face of all that. It was just a little easier picturing Sirius saying that to Lucius than ten wands pointed on his

lone child.

"I mean, credit to the kid, but I'm about to knock his lights out for not doing the smart thing and staying where he's useful! Ron needed him more than Harry did!" Remus half shouted half

whispered, the unbearable scenario going through his head the Order had long since vanished and wouldn't realize something was wrong until it was too late...

Harry couldn't really be mad though, he was as touched as he was worried now, though he wouldn't have believed that possible moments ago.

It didn't feel real, James saying that with such anger he well could have murdered someone on the spot, but at the same time speaking as if about Neville. Sometimes Lily still couldn't believe there was anyone out there who would really do something like this no matter how many times she'd seen evidence herself of it happening.

"How dare she mock him for that!" Lily said, fury nearly beyond the words.

James whispered, feeling as close to tears as if that were Sirius again, or Harry, or anyone he cared about. He could see Alice and Franks face, know their pain as one who'd been forced to hear his

own child through that torment, and it killed something inside of him to force this upon yet another, to even hear about this!

James only felt an instant of relief before Harry started screaming anew.

"No!" Harry hissed, his eyes burning with something they'd only seen once before. "No, no, no! Sirius ins't supposed to be there, he was only there because I was!"

Remus felt such a wave of vertigo he nearly fell right over. He couldn't help it, he remembered Harry screaming those exact words days ago when he'd thought Sirius was going to be Kissed.

Now, there was no Patronus charm to save him, only a luck and skill that would be tarnished after what he'd been through...

"Don't be stupid Harry," Sirius scoffed at such a reaction. "I can take care of myself just fine, did you really think I'd sit back if even for a second I heard what you'd gotten yourself up to!"

"But-"

"No," Sirius snapped with just as much force as Harry just had. "Don't want to hear it! You went out there for me, now I'm doing the same for you, you don't get to tell me what's right or wrong

about that under any circumstances."

Harry could feel it, that hot burn telling him Hermione was right, he should have listened to her, because something unforgivable was going to happen now!

James, honestly agreed with Harry. They still didn't even know how Sirius was, how much damage Voldemort had done to him before he'd gotten away, now he was barreling right back into a fight! The idiot was going to get himself killed, as if they hadn't feared that enough recently! Yet at the same time he'd never been more grateful to his brother, he certainly understood why he

was doing it for the exact same reason he would right now.

"That's not remotely a helpful answer," Lily said faintly, far more concerned with that lot than her boys who she was well aware could take care of themselves. She could still picture Ron

suffocating by the time Harry got back to him, Hermione dying from internal bleeding, who knew if something worse was happening to Ginny and Luna while no one was looking out for them!

James tried to find some comfort in that even as he shifted anxiously a bit more. Sirius was up and fighting, his ordeal with Voldemort hadn't seemed to leave any lasting harm if he was already dueling with the skill James knew so well, but perhaps he still would have been better suited to be getting Harry out of there! Then again, he probably wouldn't have even recognized Sirius if he heard he was trying to avoid a fight for even a second.

James nearly ripped the page out in frustration, this was so much worse than if he could have just been seeing this! He didn't understand why Harry hadn't mentioned Remus just now! It was of

course possible he was just behind somewhere Harry couldn't see, but James was convinced he wasn't going to breath again until he could finally leave this place altogether!

"There's thinking on your feet!" Remus said faintly.

"Hope he has to have that bloody removed," Sirius got out through gritted teeth, honestly wishing some things couldn't be magically fixed right now.

Sirius nodded in approval, still shifting restlessly as hearing it wasn't fighting off the urge he needed to be doing that now, but at least it seemed to put his friends at ease for a moment, hearing him still on his feet and dueling made it clear he wasn't irreparably injured from his ordeal.

Lily did scream then, she couldn't help it. There weren't words anymore, only curses she couldn't hope to use, and pent up emotion she needed some way to vent.

James couldn't blame his wife, he was fighting off the urge to scream all this as well though it kept coming out more as a whisper. Not Moody! If he was already down, how well was that supposed to spell out for the others, now both of his brothers and his son were all in there!

Remus managed to find that a curse and a blessing, at least they were still only trying to immobilize the kids, he'd feared now that the Order had arrived they'd be trying more than ever to

get that way from Harry by any means!

James heart stopped, it took every last drop of his willpower and forcing himself not to hear the other's cry of shock as he told;

Harry wanted to breath easier, now that he knew the spell could be blocked by something like a shield charm he felt Hermione's chances for survival went up, though he kept brushing his fingers

against his face where he was sure he'd just escaped death again.

Lily was fighting back so many impulses in these moments, to cling her child to her, both his infant self and the adult, she wanted them both under her arms where she could secure their future right now. To stop James from continuing while also taking that and finishing this herself. To send a stream of curses and constantly reminding herself it would do no good. Now she wanted Remus and Sirius right behind her! She didn't care how good a fighters they were, there was no telling what condition both were in, and neither would consider themselves when jumping in front of those spells for those kids.

"He really needs to stop with that!" Sirius snarled in disgust, his not so subtle rumbling growls growing louder every second as he wanted to rip this ones whole arm off for continuously trying

to use that on his loved ones, even if he had no regrets taking this instead of Harry.

James couldn't help snarling in outrage, that flash of green suddenly all he could see for a moment, the light in Lily's eyes fading, the same color to take away Sirius by a breath!

Harry made a ragged noise as yet more people went down around him, because of him, and he tried to cling even tighter to Sirius now, his grip turning bruising as he held onto his arm.

Sirius only gave him an absent pat, shifting his weight so restlessly Harry could hardly keep a grip on him even as he acted like his life depended on it.

Remus closed his eyes tight, hating to hear the echo of James' final words to his wife in that moment as surely that was just a coincidence, everything was going to be fine! He quickly

snapped them back open to focus on Sirius and James, his friends, nothing was going to happen to them now.

The only thing stopping Lily from vomiting at the image was that it hadn't connected, it never would again, because this time she hadn't been there to stop it, so Harry would be safe from this.

Had Neville though? The Order? It would be an honest miracle if everyone came out of this unscathed...

Sirius dislodged Harry from him again by running his hands through his hair frantically, he couldn't believe no one had ever taught Harry 'Finite' or that he was forgetting about the spell right now!

'He's not going to get hurt, nothing happened to him' James kept chanting in his head, the only mantra he could use to make words keep coming out.

That wasn't working so well whenever James had to flip focus to one of his friends. Sirius finally got so agitated he jumped to his feet, moving swiftly across the room as if he were in a duel now, his body finally unable to remain immobile while Harry did the opposite. Now that Sirius was out of reach, he froze over, as if he could no longer hear or feel anything around him, he couldn't understand why Sirius had left him right now...

James couldn't help a pitiful noise of relief for just a moment, Remus hadn't been mentioned since he'd come storming in and in the back of his mind where Sirius and Harry weren't struggling to

fight he'd feared something had happened to Moony the moment he'd come in. How soon was it to a full moon, had one just ended? He had no answer for the state he was fighting in anymore than Sirius, but he tried to give his mind an instant of relief Remus may have darted off to check on the other kids before running into this fray.

"They're clearly trying!" Lily told him in a 'you're not helping voice!'

Remus looked terrified for a new kind of reason, like Lily was going to curse him next if he didn't do something useful soon.

James made such a powerful noise his throat actually hurt, but he still didn't stop. He'd care about that later, they'd find some other way to hear that thing, he had to keep his priority and hear of his son out of there first!

Sirius stamped his foot so hard in frustration he worried for a moment it was going to sink right through the floor, but it didn't stop his movement. He was thinking the exact same as the others, they'd just have to hunt down this Seer who'd given the prophecy, Merlin he'd go and hunt down his Aunt Misapinoa, speak to anyone in his family again for even the inkling of a clue on where to hear this thing, but that was later. They'd worry about that when Harry was safe again.

"Oh!" James felt such a head rush he nearly fell over in surprise.

"Thank Merlin, or Dumbledore or-" Remus cut himself off with a near hysterical giggle, their shaking of fright from before now more relived than anything, those Death Eaters stood no chance

now! Here they'd all been worried Voldemort might pop back in any moment, now the opposite had happened!

Their sincerity of everything was going to be okay now was so much, none noticed Harry wasn't joining in. Sirius least of all as he was now jumping around with excitement more than anything

he could haul Harry out of there and finally something could go right.

"Broken nose or not, there's not a lot of translations for that word," Lily said, still high off her relief that her voice came out as wobbly as if she'd really started crying that everything was going to be okay now.

Harry didn't feel that now. He searched for it, in the recesses of his memories, but there was no trace of such a powerful feeling except the numbing cold that was sapping everything from him, all his mind could focus on was watching Sirius, moving around with such excitement he looked like he was going to start dancing in here like he had been in such a more deadly situation all those years ago.

"I'm going to kill Dumbledore," Lily said with indulgent exasperation. He should have grabbed Bellatrix first if his goal was simply to round up these Death Eater's, why let Sirius continue goofing off as he clearly was now when he was the one who needed to get out of there the most before anyone else showed up.

"Taunts to your last breath, I swear," Remus huffed, scowling lightly at the book and him alternatively. He hadn't personally ever dueled Bellatrix, but she wasn't one to be trifled with no

matter how good Sirius was, she'd proved that in the few seconds she'd been around Harry and his friends.

Sirius' expression was mocking that in here, Remus noticed as his head whipped to him so fast there was an uncomfortable snapping noise. Sirius was covering his chest and looking genuinely

offended he'd been struck while that pompous smile was still in place.

James only half glanced up at him, his throat still raw and soar from all this frustration he had not the heart for telling his brother what a cocky idiot he was for getting caught. It bothered him most of all Harry hadn't noted what color that flash of light was that hit him, but the first he'd dodged had simply been a stunner, so likely it was just that again.

James froze, the whole room went still as four pairs of eyes just watched this act take place. It was eerie, Sirius found himself thinking as he went rigid, that animation finally ceasing in him as James kept going with a heavy twitch that Sirius wanted to brush off but couldn't find the words for.

James voice was taking on a rather hard edge, his eyes flat with disbelief. Of course he hadn't, his mind reasoned, he was stunned when he fell into that, someone just had to pull him back out!

Sirius started shaking then, so powerfully his wand fell from his limp fingers and his whole body went an unnatural color from shock. He didn't like that reaction! Why would Remus stop Harry

instead of helping him!?

As if in slow motion, Harry's life tumbled from his hands and was left upon the ground while James moved.

For just a second, Harry watched it in real time. Sirius' knees buckled, and he fell back, but in that

moment, James was there, catching him before he hit the ground.

"No..."

HPHPHPHP

...At this point, are you really surprised? Okay, I know you all hate me, but erm, yeah okay I have no defense other than saying hope you enjoyed that until the real reaction shots next chapter on Thursday...

* Take that Snape! You weren't the first Death Eater to say that! ...I don't know why I cracked up laughing rereading the series and coming across this line, just thought I'd share the moment so you wouldn't hate me for one second.

** I know I'm calling for a bit of suspension of disbelief here with his Prophecy knowledge, which is rude of me considering I try to make sense of this story and now I'm doing the opposite,

so putting this kind of information on Sirius is a bit of a long shot; but I can't help myself, I need some way to explain all this in fic, and Dumbledore does a meh job of it, and Sirius is the only one with any connections that could also claim to even just vaguely know about these things. Take heart I refused to do this for other things like the Horcruxes? Those'll be much more fun to watch them struggle along to understand, but the prophecies just tie back too well with the third book for

me to pass up.

***I'll admit it here guys, the movie really had a much more bamf entrance for this. Sirius punching Lucius in the face really is an iconic moment.


	36. THE ONLY ONE HE EVER FEARED

I finished writing this chapter just before I had to go to work, so I showed up still all weepy, but I couldn't tell my boss it was because of characters, so I just said the first lie that came to mind and it was, 'my dog died.' Then I was laughing almost hysterically while still trying not to cry, so that was my day.

HPHPHPHP

The whisper escaped from him in a lost voice, one last shred of denial that was his brothers fate. The next word came out all emotion. It had been spoken so much lately, like any moment the

simple word could change all this, yet it had still never carried quite so much.

"NO! You can't do that Sirius! I- you-"

Lily felt the mad desire to laugh as James held Sirius to him like he was holding him back from that veil this second. This wasn't like when James had told Sirius he couldn't use his godfather privileges to outrank Lily on the idea of how Harry's baby room would be decorated.

She couldn't take her eyes off of him, afraid he'd vanish the moment she did, but as always in her mind, she needed to know where her child was. Her infant was still upstairs, safe and away from this, and it took all of her will to look away from someone she'd come to know as a brother and look instead to Harry.

"I hate this!" James didn't seem aware of the words he was shouting, how they echoed the room and tore his throat, all he could feel was how hard his chest was beating. "I can't stand it anymore! Not after what Peter did to me, after Sirius spent twelve years in hell because of it! Lily, Frank and Alice, everything Harry's been through! It's not fair! Sirius did nothing, was never anything but a good man who just wanted to help me and my family, and he didn't deserve this-!"

It took several deep breaths to realize why his shouting was cut short because of a cough, and when he could finally see again he realized he'd run his fist through a wall, little poufs of dust still sprinkling down around him. It took some maneuvering and a bit of swearing for him to unclench his fist and draw his now throbbing hand back out.

Sirius wasn't aware of a word, his face was still that mask of shock, his hand pressed to his chest where that last spell would have hit him, he could have keeled over right there and it wouldn't have been a noticeable difference. He wasn't even aware James was still holding so tight to him with one arm and that the other was now bleeding.

Harry didn't seem anymore aware either, getting to his feet as if enchanted and trying to walk towards Sirius, but his feet so unsteady he was like a newborn. Lily tried to move, to go to his side in case he fell over next, but she didn't get to his side in time.

"It's going to be okay, we can still fix this-"

"You can't keep saying that! It did happen to me- and you! You never did a damn thing to stop it!"

Remus was too stunned, still full of his own pleas in watching Sirius, and even if he had recognized his mistake in time he still wouldn't have had the thought to block it as Harry gave a

solid punch to his face.

"Harry, stop!" Sirius pleaded, his first sign of life coming back to pull Harry off of him without a second thought while James jumped between his son and Remus, still shaking so hard from all this it was an honest miracle he was on his feet.

"I'm just so glad for you-" Harry snarled, still trying to glare hatefully past the two he couldn't look at right now, "that you can keep pretending it's all okay because the worst thing that's happened to you is a couple of scratches, but it happened to me! I lived through it, and you can't keep brushing that off like it's all okay now! I lost everything because of you!"

Remus may well have just died himself, the blood still dripping down his face the only clear evidence he wasn't a corpse.

"Apologize, now!" Sirius snarled in his ear, still without releasing Harry.

He was still shaking, he couldn't even see anymore, a white flash all he knew for his pain couldn't even register in his body anymore. "HE'S NOT DEAD! HE'S NOT, AND I'LL PROVE IT!" He

wrenched the book to him, Sirius having to move with him as he still wouldn't release Harry and once Sirius realized what he was doing he ducked in and took it first, watching Harry carefully

like at any moment he'd shatter in front of them.

"Alright Harry, if you say so, then clearly, we, misunderstood...something," he couldn't keep going, to watch those green eyes. Sirius knew, any second the fractures in them would crack, Harry would be forced to realize the same as them, but for now Sirius still had the breath to whisper, "so, lets get to that then."

Sirius wasn't aware he was actually reading words, it was just noise flying out of him, he was still waiting for the rest of the bomb to drop.

Remus still hadn't moved, like he feared if he so much as breathed Harry's shaking would cease and he'd just go finish the job, the look on his face indicated he wouldn't stop him.

Lupin just didn't understand, Sirius was simply hiding out of sight.

Lily hadn't moved in all of this, she didn't know how to. There was something filling her, too much at once...

James wasn't sure if Harry was hearing any of this, his denial as complete back then as it was now. He looked like he was still fighting off something in here, but there was nothing left holding him down, so he was just standing stock still and twitching away from nothing. James almost longed for that, instead of the dead numbness he felt watching. There was no other reason in the world Remus wouldn't have gone after Sirius if there were any other explanation...

Lily could all to easily picture that, he even kept doing it now like he always did though it still fell right back into place the moment his hand moved back. It was hard to think past that, past

anything except his voice going through her head, she alone seemed welded to her seat from the pain no matter how much she wanted to find some comfort for her boys, there wasn't any to be had for this.

James was still angry too, he wanted to keep yelling, raging and screaming, hadn't really blamed Harry for turning on someone like he so wanted to do, there was just no one in here he could do

that for.

Harry couldn't say it again, though the utter of denial was clearly on his tongue, his expression could no longer hold it as he swayed and then fell back onto the sofa.

"Harry," Sirius whispered, hovering over him at once but still glancing worriedly at his mates who hadn't moved either. Harry didn't react though, his eyes unfocused on anything in here like he was still trying to watch that black veil. Sirius wanted to pull Harry close, to promise him he wasn't going to leave him now, but it didn't feel right, not after how harshly he'd attacked Remus for trying to say the same thing. He wasn't just going to let Harry pull away from him though, staying within arms reach of him as he desperately tried to keep going.

Remus felt a small hitch of breath return and still manage to leave him all at once. It hurt to think, it hurt just to keep breathing, all he could think was where had he been during that fight, why hadn't he stayed closer to Sirius while he had the chance, because Harry was right, he'd never done anything to stop this happening.

Sirius' voice sounded strange when he'd said that, but it was only because James was still frozen in place, watching his every minute detail. His voice had wobbled, he was trying not to look at Remus, and James wanted to snatch that bloody thing away from Sirius and make him say why, but his feet wouldn't move, his mouth wouldn't work, it still felt like his insides had been replaced with ice.

Lily's eyes widened comically, having almost forgotten everyone and everything else, that Neville really had no idea what was going on, but he'd still stood up for Harry no matter what, and finally something slipped inside her and a few tears began trickling out. Then she couldn't stop, her shoulders shaking, could hardly breath through her wracking sobs.

"Oh Lils," Sirius sighed as he still curled around Harry, but watched her desperately now, his instinct to go comfort a friend as heavy as it was for his godson, but he hadn't been given a chance to act on it.

"Shut up Sirius!" Lily snapped, though that still came out more watery than threatening like she'd intended. She didn't understand why, she'd said that to him a thousand times since they'd even just considered each other passing acquaintances once her and James had started dating, she'd said it countless times in her youth, but trying to say it to him now caused an even harder sob to push out of her.

James collapsed next to her, though the distance between him and Sirius felt like a chasm now, he was terrified he couldn't reach across and grab him still to stop this happening, but that would

never stop him tucking Lily into his chest, though she tried to beat him off.

"Stop that you idiot," she tried to huff, pushing weakly at his chest with one hand and rubbing her other hand against her eyes, not even sure who she was demanding of, "just keep going." She

denied that she could still feel James arms tight around her waist, the little wet drips in her hair as he tucked her under his chin.

It felt callous to do so, but with Harry still locked up like he was, Sirius was getting desperate now to hear of something happening that wasn't just lingering on this!

Harry just nodded.

Lily reached out furiously for some tissues, trying to deny she was sniffing and could hardly breath past the clog in her nose, and instead found her cat in her arms purring crazily. Honestly

she was impressed he'd come down here with as much noise that had been going on, but she buried her face in his soft fur instead, now fighting back the urge to say someone had finally done

this for Neville.

Sirius hated to pause again, but he couldn't hep to stare at that in confusion. So their guess had been wrong anyways, Moony hadn't been checking on the other kids during this fight, so where

had he been? It's not as if anyone knew, and Sirius could certainly never blame anyone in his life for his fight, so he ushered past his moment quickly as if there'd never been one, they weren't going to get an answer.

Sirius could imagine. He was carving out his soul telling this to them now, Harry's pain, the most vivid thing they'd ever felt in their lives, but honestly Remus somehow still felt like a heavier

presence. It didn't matter he'd spent thirteen years thinking the worst of Sirius, that the two hadn't seemed to do much of anything in the following two years to reconcile. What mattered was that they'd both been there for Harry when it mattered, and now Sirius had been the one to pay for it, leaving Moony more alone than ever.

"Was he just ignoring her! Did he not see her long before now!" Sirius half shouted in frustration. He wouldn't deny he would have been insulted if Dumbledore had stepped into that fight, but now he knew the results when he hadn't, he really questioned why she wasn't the first one Dumbledore grabbed!

He got no answer, though he hadn't expected one.

Sirius stuttered in surprise as he got his wish. He could feel Harry finally looking at him again, that he'd gained the others attention, and now he wanted to keep going even less than before at what Harry could really be fixing to do...

Remus made a wretched noise, and James sharply met his eyes. It was vaguely disturbing he still had blood dripping from his nose, that he hadn't moved yet and James was getting worried Harry's

hateful words spoken in anger weren't being tossed back at Harry as they should have been. It's not as if he wanted to see Remus fight back, but it was better than that slack expression where he

hadn't known what was going on in his head. At least that was one noise he did know. "Shut up Moony," James snapped. "You saved his life that day! If you hadn't stopped Harry he would have gone right in after Sirius-"

"So would I," Remus said brokenly.

Sirius froze, fighting back his own tears as he collected himself, just to breath for a moment before whispering, "but you didn't."

Remus just buried his face behind his arms and wouldn't look at them.

Lily's face snapped up, attention solely focused on this again instead of the life she was hearing about, the fear she faced everyday having a date stamped across it. Now her son was in danger again, who knew what that potion was sustaining those brains, if in fact he dodged them but instead those things began attacking the rest of those kids, they weren't even sure what had

happened to Ron because of it!

Sirius was having trouble processing anything that wasn't the words on the page. He wanted to be angry at Harry, going after this madwoman by himself, but would never deny he'd be doing the

same. He wanted to question the odds of how she'd gotten herself out of there so easily, but all he knew was he had to keep going, or that pounding rage was going to posses Harry again, worse

than ever when there was no one to chase after in here.

James almost wanted to be relived, but he still couldn't find his lungs, or much of anything. It would also be a lie, he wasn't sure if he'd feel anything again until he heard of that cousin bleeding.

Remus had never felt anything less in his life, certainly not the need to keep questioning that place, that room, how anything worked ever again.

The book was shaking so hard it was growing impossible to keep finding the words. The prophecy was broken, but Bellatrix may not return to her master empty handed if Harry kept this up!

"She doesn't get to call you that!" Lily hissed, James snatching up her hand before she could accidentally set Sirius on fire with her wand instead of that look. "How dare she refer to you as

anything!"

Sirius offered her a twisted little smile, she'd unintentionally mimicked him a lot through his years of having to refer to them as family as well, but now honestly didn't feel the time to tell Lily how like him she was.

The three of them were still periodically glancing at Harry, waiting for that mask to break.

"Harry!" Sirius yelped, convinced he must have read that one wrong, no member of the Order had stooped that low!

"She killed you, she deserved it." Harry said so lowly, his voice did not sound like his own.

"You said you were worried about Voldemort possessing you, well this is how it starts! You start with this shit and you're going to turn right into him!"

Harry didn't even blink, as if he hadn't even heard him.

James watched the two with a blurry vision that had nothing at all to do with the fact he was still seeing through tears. He'd been worried for ages Harry was going to start referring to Sirius as his dad, start forgetting James was even in the room. Now he wished for that back, unable to imagine the world where Sirius wasn't around anymore to tell Harry what an idiot he was being just then.

"She killed-"

"You don't get to use me as an excuse for doing what you did!"

Harry's mouth snapped shut, his pale face sinking back to this world, their world, as for the first time he really seemed to realize he was talking to Sirius. His eyes burned, and he had to swallow carefully or it was all going to spill out even while some last desperate part of him clung to the fact Sirius was going to appear any second, come to his rescue one last time and get him away from Bellatrix, to finish the fight he'd started.

When Sirius realized Harry wasn't going to argue the point anymore, he hopped he'd gotten through to him the Unforgivables were called that for a reason, they weren't meant for anyone to

be using.

Harry still felt like his head was swimming, his memories colliding with what all he'd done in here, who he was watching hear about his life. There wasn't much of a spare thought left for Bellatrix to be angry with after he'd vented on all the wrong people for it, but even still, he managed to note they looked almost comforted his first Unforgivable curse hadn't had very good success. It was impossible for him to find any kind of good in anything.

'Lesson,' the word echoed oddly in the back of Harry's head, and he was suddenly griped with something far more precious that had once been given to him all because of lessons, and he looked

around to see where Professor Lupin had gone, but Remus was right there, still it seemed unable to force himself to leave though he was staying on the ground practically out of sight, he was still

in here hearing how Harry had gotten out of this one...

The worst part was, that was probably true, Lily desperately noted, still fighting back the urge to scream or cry or pull her own hair out in wondering where everyone else was, why Harry was left alone again now more than ever!

"They don't know it broke," James whispered in surprise, though honestly that thing was still the last thing on his mind he wanted to be thinking about. He still had half a mind to wrench that thing away from Sirius, be done with this whole bloody mess, but he could never do that while Harry was in danger like he was.

Sirius felt his brow crease, his first instinct to turn and ask Moony how Voldemort knew Harry was telling the truth now but hadn't felt it when the thing had broken in the first place, to pick Prongs' brain apart until they figured out just what the bloody hell this hole connection business was that had landed them in so much trouble to begin with. It was lost though in his higher need to hear Harry away from this madwoman.

Lily squirmed in place as she kept watching Harry, feeling sick a with worry that had been growing every second since he'd had his fit. Harry hadn't transitioned into any of this in here, no

anger towards Bellatrix, no pain for remembering this as he had every time before. He seemed locked in his head, the memory of his godfather's death still keeping him in limbo from engaging

with his mind in here and she had no clue how long it would last.

James said something that in fact was not English, recognizable words had gone beyond him.

Sirius didn't seem able to anymore either. Harry watched him still feeling more detached than anything, he couldn't understand how they were working themselves back up after...

Yet he had to, he'd never had to keep going more in his life. Nothing had ever stopped Sirius before now, and he wasn't going to let this!

That was possibly the most insulting thing Bellatrix ever could have said regarding him, because it only made Sirius remember how she'd know he was an Animagus. He may not have been there,

but had been weighing heavily on all of their hearts, the most depressing question of who's side he'd be on for this fight, and knowing the answer only made it worse. None were naive enough to

think he may have rallied to the Order's side during this, not after what he'd done, but in fact had been a central part, had spilled the Marauders very own secrets to the likes of Death Eaters.

"No!" The word seemed to echo all around him, four piercing screams that tore through the air, promising they weren't going to live hearing of another death.

Harry watched them all, his parents both having lost the fight and crying freely now for one more part of their family nearly being broken off, Remus even looked up with his face half covered in blood but obviously unable to look anywhere else but at Harry, at Sirius who looked far more likely to drop dead from hearing of this than even his own death had done to him. Finally a trickle

of warmth seeped back through him...

Sirius nearly fell out of his seat in relief, except now he was the one who couldn't draw himself away from Harry, not while he was at his most vulnerable.

Remus made a desperate noise and now had to fight the urge to bury his face back away, he just couldn't shake that stupid choice of words after what he'd done to Sirius!

"Finally a good use for that thing," James said faintly.

"What the bloody hell is that thing made out of?" Lily demanded, her voice still devoid of most emotion except high pitched fear. "It deflected..."

She trailed off, but they all knew what she meant. Remus could have explained it could have been as simple as the spell not affecting the metal as some spells were apt to do and would simply ricochet off, but some as powerful as the one Voldemort had just tried usually disintegrated an object instead, so perhaps it had more to do with the man animating it than the material. Lily knew all of that though, and it was starting to hurt to breath through his nose which had alternated from

burning heat to an icy numbness, so he didn't waste the breath.

"Does Dumbledore always call him that to his face?" Sirius mumbled, at least distracted by that.

"I'm just going to stay over here and laugh Bellatrix is still around to here it," James said, using her name with the same inflection he would Peters, certainly not a trace of amusement to be found.

James was shaking his head slowly from side to side, entirely out of energy, of anything like his curious nature wanting to question what kind of magic they were using to cause this he'd certainly not a clue for.

Harry was watching them intently again, reminded of the first days he'd done so when he was looking for a reaction he wasn't sure of, like he was trying to get to know them all over again. At least this time he could feel in him the urge to ask the question he was positive they could answer, but none seemed surprised by this turn of events at all. Clearly then this was not the first time Dumbledore had a chance at fighting Voldemort, and not the first time he'd shown mercy.

They all felt that to be true, they were living it now. An endless black nothing would have been a kindness to living through this.

"Why would you want to?" Lily breathed, though she understood it as well as the pull that had taken Harry up there. She could no more have stood around and not helped than pushed Sirius

through that veil.

'I can attest to that,' Remus felt the passing thought, shifting his eyes back down to his own lap, still unable to actually leave, but feeling more secure now Dumbledore was there. Harry- nobody else was going to suffer tonight.

Lily shivered down to her bone, unable to question why the difference as she feared that would somehow change the affect, that one had saved her sons life and this instead could have just as well killed him.

James tried to automatically clench his fist around his wand, and was surprised at the hot flash of pain he felt. Then he glanced down in surprise. His hand was an ugly, swollen mess that was the

source of at least the physical pain, it was throbbing and he wouldn't be surprised if he broke something in there. It was nothing though, he'd had worse injuries playing Quidditch, so he

pressed down on a finger with two from his other hand and hissed at the pain, but it was the first time he'd breathed since Sirius had grabbed that thing.

Sirius made a little squeak noise of his own, he hadn't even been aware Fawkes had been around but of course the loyal pet would be at a time like this, to take a fall Dumbledore wouldn't have

recovered from. It just wasn't helping his stomach to ease any less on that urge to vomit again, he didn't need to be reminded of that Chamber right now!

Thinking the fight was over, Harry again tried to get away from his statue, but for the first time there was fear in Dumbledore's voice as he told Harry to stay where he was.

The magic, Harry knew, should have left him in awe of what had just happened, but instead he was feeling more heavy every second. That warmth from before was building in him like an open flame, pulsing out with each press of his heart and seeking out the rest of him, his numbness was leaving and Harry wanted to cling to it now, in fear of what he was going to feel when it was gone...

"What's he doing to him?" Lily demanded, her voice as quite as ever, but taking on some new tone far beyond fear.

"What, is he doing, to my son," James began in such a deadly calm voice, it made the warmth in Harry spread faster than ever, up his throat now...

Remus didn't remember getting to his feet, but he also realized once he was back on his feet he couldn't just stay prone out of sight when Sirius sounded like that, when something like this was

being hung over Harry and there was no one there for Harry who should be!

"Harry," Sirius whispered, still trying to reach out to him, find something in him that showed he didn't want that now. He didn't know how to be there for Harry for this though, no matter how

hard he tried.

Harry looked back at him as if he didn't even recognize him, like that first day, his eyes were searching for something Sirius didn't have. Those aged lines, that dark hollow to his eyes, Remus had been right about one thing, this hadn't happened yet, and while Harry knew he should have felt grateful for that, it cemented in him like nothing before Sirius still couldn't really know how Harry was feeling right now for another fourteen years. Yet the warmth around him was hotter than ever, spilling up into his face, his eyes burning as he tried to keep breathing around a sudden lump in his throat.

"It's over," Lily finally whispered, still unable to comprehend the words herself, it never truly felt over.

It hadn't even occurred to them where those things had gone in the blaze of that fight, but any of them would have congratulated Dumbledore for thinking ahead like that.

"Oh, well that's interesting to know he bothered to save someone after-" Sirius broke off with a wild noise, looking at the last page and back to Harry so fast his eyes were going to fall right out of his head he was trying to do both at the same time, because Harry was starting to gasp, tears finally leaking out of the corner of his own eyes and he was fighting a loosing battle in keeping them in, and Sirius just wanted to be done with this already when Harry stopped fighting.

Remus had almost forgotten Dumbledore was supposedly on the run from this place...clearly this fact hadn't stopped anyone from going in...

"I mean, he did just take on Voldemort without really trying, I'd believe him," Sirius muttered testily.

James leaned over and whispered into Lily's ear, "who was he chasing for that long?" No one they knew, Sirius had been on the run longer, Dumbledore for only a few months, certainly not that long.

Lily didn't answer him, and James didn't even notice, both only had eyes for their child as they watched him start to fall to pieces, and even he didn't seem to realize it.

"That describe Fudge's whole presence in this loo," Lily said in disgust that didn't quite reach normal levels, she was trying to wiggle out of James' reach and go to her child, but James was

holding her back, still breathing raggedly from watching Sirius this whole time, knowing who Harry really needed.

"Clearly he can," Remus shook his head as he started edging backwards, thankfully unnoticed.

It really spoke of the state Sirius was reading in no one spared even a passing smile for this finally being said.

It was all to much, Harry could still feel that now, too many things, memories from then and now, every painful emotion he'd ever had in his life flashing through him all at once. "I- don't- " Harry brokenly sobbed, with what or even at whom he didn't know. He didn't want to keep going, to actually realize he'd been forced to move on with his life. He'd never known his parents to grieve them, but finally he'd had a piece of them from one person, then all that was taken away just as fast. He'd known Sirius for barely two years, and now he felt more alone than ever.

"I know, I know Harry," Sirius promised finally tossing that stupid thing aside so he could wrap him tight, and Harry collapsed into his lap. He was fifteen again, having seen the worst thing in his life as his only connection to his dad was again ripped from him, and all he'd wanted was Sirius back. Now he had that, and he finally got his wish again, holding back just as tight.

HPHPHPHP

It actually always vaguely annoyed me we never got to see Harry cry in book. I'm not asking for a whole spiel, but it's honestly just as depressing to me as Sirius' actual death picturing the poor kid having a break down somewhere alone in the castle, or even worse at Privet Drive. Maybe Ron and Hermione would have comforted him, maybe he avoided everyone and held this all in alone until he couldn't anymore, but yeah...

Warning, I'm not going to update again till Tuesday, so the last chapter will be up on Friday.

*I assume Dumbledore was referring to himself given that time frame, but neither matched up that well so I couldn't help but poke this one.


	37. Unanswered Questions

I lied. I was going to make this the opening to The Lost Prophecy, but it is a rather stand alone bit and the next chapter is so long anyways I decided to make this it's own part. Hope you enjoy!

Quick note because I realize I haven't addressed this yet but I didn't want any confusion below, they're not in Godric's Hollow. I personally never thought they chose to live there, but Dumbledore moved them there when they went into hiding because he knew the area and territory so he set them up in his own childhood home and put the Fidelius charm around them. The house they're in now is in fact the home Lily and James would have grown up in with Harry and their plethora of children in my mind.

HPHPHPHP

Harry's heart stilled as he stepped into the backyard and didn't see him. If he'd left, Harry wasn't as sure he could find him, Remus himself probably hadn't a destination in getting away-

There was a flutter of something at the edge of his vision above him noticed it. His instincts were still high on alert though, and he glanced up to see the swish of something moving on the roof.

Harry had only walked around the outside of the property once before, just to glance around a bit while the boys had been resting, he himself had been in a restless fit still remembering his past, imagining how different things could have been if they'd just known all of this before he'd had to dump it onto them...

Even though that had been a few days ago, he still remembered the curve of the roof as he went back to the left frame of the house, how it dipped slightly as if something heavy was frequently hung there, or apparently, if someone lifted themselves up from there.

It could have been an owl, it could have been a stray cat or any number of things, but Harry released a soft sigh of relief he'd found Remus laid back on the roof and blatantly ignoring his uneasy steps forward. Harry wished he'd watched Remus do this first, he hadn't truly made a whisper to get in his spot where as Harry feared he was going to bring the whole house down below him with how heavy his steps were, but finally he managed to make it at least within arms reach of him and then lowered himself uneasily on the slightly slanted perch.

The view was beautiful. If he'd cared to he could pick out dozens of constellations, but his astronomy lessons were the last thing on his mind right now. There was nothing but open fields for miles. His parents had chosen a home that should have felt isolated, but there was a tiny glimmer in the distance of civilization, while the expanse of space between this left one free to run without stopping. It felt perfect, and Harry knew a powerful ache for something more he'd never had, would never have.

Then he released a little huff of breath as he glanced to his side again, though he'd never forgotten why he was doing this. He wished he'd asked Sirius to come with him, he could still feel the deep pit residing in him that would never truly leave no matter how much he stared at his godfather now, but this wasn't his Sirius. The man he'd known had died, and no matter how long Harry lay curled in his lap that wasn't changing, and he had to cling to that acceptance as long as he could and fix a mistake he'd honestly regretted the moment he'd realized what he'd said.

Remus had fixed his nose, though hadn't quite managed to clean all the blood from his face, and Harry stared guilty at that as he said, "I didn't blame you, not really." He hadn't come up here with a plan to say those words, all he'd known was sorry wasn't going to be good enough this time. Then it kept pouring out, still in a faint whisper that he knew full well Remus could hear, it was just impossible to put anymore into his voice speaking of this. "I was angry at Bellatrix, and Dumbledore, and bloody Sirius himself, but I never even considered...what you were feeling, what you'd lost as well. I shouldn't have said that."

Remus took so long in answering Harry feared he never would, but he wasn't leaving either. His past was a mess, but nothing was one way. He could have sent Remus a letter any time just as he

had Sirius, and then if he'd been ignored he'd have known it was nothing more than just his dad's old friend uncaring about him. He hadn't though, had never bothered to try interacting with him anymore than the other way around, and he wouldn't make that mistake again.

When he did speak, his voice sounded hollow, flat and dead that sent a thrill of fear through Harry. "I always was a selfish creature, I wanted to go to school, actually pretend I could be around others, and I just keep doing it no matter the consequences. Seems like he was right, I really am just pretending to be one of them."

"He who?" Harry spluttered in surprise, easily taking his normal volume back as his mind scramble to understand who would insult Remus like that, certainly not Wormtail, it didn't seem right of him at this time- then the rest of what he'd said registered. "Remus, it wasn't your fault! How could you think that?! It was mine, it's always mine! I shouldn't have gone there, it was a bloody trap I fell right in to! I should have-"

"It shouldn't have happened like that-"

"But it did," Harry said back defiantly now, that same black anger starting to pulse out of him again, and this time he fought back, he reigned it in before he'd let the feeling of being connected to Voldemort overpower him again. So instead he sounded closer to crying as he managed to get out, "it did happen to me that way, and I hope you do find a way to change it, but it doesn't change what happened to me."

When still he said nothing, just kept looking up with now glassy eyes reflecting the stars and the blood smearing a bit from the wet trickling down his face, Harry insistently kept going, "you don't really believe that, I know you don't! You didn't run out of here because you're afraid, you blame yourself and I understand that better than anyone, but if you really thought you were a monster who caused all this you would not have stayed."

Harry felt a deep, resonating feeling inside of him. He wondered why that felt so significant, why something in him was telling him Remus must figure this out in his future, though Harry was sure he wasn't the one to do it.

"Remus please, you shouldn't forgive me for what I said, but I'm begging you to come back inside when you can. I want you to hear the rest, it... it would mean everything to me," he finished just as softly as he'd started.

Remus closed his eyes then, to blot out the stars, the waning moon he hated so much, and Harry felt he had no more choice but to unsteadily make his way back inside. He couldn't force Remus

to stay, he couldn't force any of them to do this. He couldn't begin to explain to himself why this mattered so much to him, Remus had been nothing more than a passing mentor in his life on an even less scale than McGonagall, but on the same way he'd felt the pain of Sirius' death even before it had been returned to him, he knew he needed Remus to hear this as well. Harry couldn't force him to though, this had to be his choice, and he'd said all he could to convince him of that.

So he went back inside, and waited.

He was abruptly assaulted by James and Sirius trying to go right back out past him.

They'd given him his second with their friend, Harry should apologize for what he'd said and if anyone else in the world had thrown those words at their Moony they would have a multitude of curses upon them for starters. Now though, when they saw Harry hadn't gotten him back inside, the Marauders were going to do their work.

James circled around and hoisted himself up as Harry had, and Sirius didn't even bother with that and magicked himself onto the roof, now hovering right above Remus who still didn't open his eyes even when he landed almost right on top of him. "Shove off Padfoot."

"No," Sirius said simply, sitting down beside him and watching James scramble for a moment before finding his feet and then gracefully sitting down as well. The thought did flit across Sirius' mind to poke fun, tell Moony how dastardly it was to want him away considering what they'd just heard, but joking about this probably would get him thrown off the roof, so instead he said, "Harry better have bloody apologized for that."

"In so many words," Remus agreed.

"Can't believe the little shit took that out on you," James huffed, he still felt the compulsion to put his kid in time out no matter how stupid that was, for starters.

"I can't claim to have been much better," Sirius reminded with a heavy sigh, "he's already seen me take some of this out on Moony."

James made a face at him now for the reminder, but Remus interrupted softly, "don't you regret any of it?" He could hardly believe his ears Sirius was still chatting like this was all perfectly normal banter between the lot of them. "Have you just forgotten the reason all this started was because you didn't trust me, because I certainly haven't."

"Doesn't give Harry the right to say what he did," James scowled.

"No Moony, I don't," Sirius huffed, wishing he'd open his damn eyes instead of seemingly ignoring them while trying to tell them they were being idiots again. "I'd die protecting Harry

again and again, and so would any of you. That's what it boils down to, not whose fault it is."

"I still can't figure out how the idiot's blaming himself," James huffed, if Moony was going to continue talking to them with his eyes shut like he couldn't even look at them, then James could talk like he wasn't here. "Of everyone involved, sorry Moony, you're not particularly the center of it."

Remus' face screwed up tighter than ever, he mouthed something that neither could hear, but he didn't seem able to say it louder or again.

"Fine then, guess we'll just have to guess," Sirius mock huffed before tapping himself on the chin but all the time still eyeing him critically. "Ah, he might have been stupid enough to try and convince me to stay behind, but obviously that would never work."

"Please," James rolled his eyes at the idea, "the thought wouldn't even cross his mind. What if he's just pissed at you for laughing and getting caught, I know I still am."

"Could be," Sirius conceded, "but then he'd be in far more of a temper than sulky. Oh, I got it, what if he-"

"I was wondering what your last thought was," Remus finally snapped just to shut the two up, eyes flashing back open to glare at them.

"And you thought it was you?!" Sirius barked in disbelief, no more amusement remotely present. "You actually thought I'd blame you for that? For what Remus?" All his patience was lost now as he threw his hands up in frustration.

Remus turned his face away, watching a birds nest instead, he couldn't look at him when he muttered, "if you'd ever forgiven me. You may have said you had back in the Shack, but I've been wondering just how much you meant that, considering-"

The two had been in the thick of many fights together, staying as close to each other as they could so one could deflect anothers spell coming the opposite way. It was like that for all four of them at one point, working in tandem, but Sirius had been dueling Bellatrix alone, and Remus hadn't been anywhere in sight until it was already over.

"I don't know," Sirius answered honestly, "and I don't care," he finished defiantly, pressing the heel of his palm sharp into Remus' knee until he jolted in pain and had no choice but to look back. "I already have, and if I was stupid enough not to in that future than look what I get for it! I won't let it happen again though Remus, there's nothing you could do now to change that!"

Guilt colored his expression for such a brief moment James felt a jolt of worry he thought he'd long since run out of, but Sirius was still going. "How many times do I have to tell you that Remus, since when do you need things repeated to you?"

"Never stopped you doing it before," he finished in a petulant mutter, easily falling into his exasperated tone, any traces of anything except glaring up at Sirius long gone.

James struggled in the heavy silence but finally got himself to say, "well, now you've gone and done it, gone and practically given him permission to repeat that stupid joke forever."

"Not as if he's ever needed our permission for anything before either," Remus huffed, settling back against the roof but now forcing himself to look exaggeratedly comfortable like he wanted to take a nap up here.

James and Sirius exchanged a look over him, neither convinced they'd done as much good as they'd come up here to do, but the fact that Remus hadn't bolted from the property already must

mean something. He was holding himself here, and they'd cling to that until they finally beat through his head they were going to keep him around like they thought they had so many years ago.


	38. THE LOST PROPHECY

Lily watched Harry come back inside and flop morosely down at the table, burying his head into his arms and looking so exhausted she wouldn't be surprised if he'd simply fallen over asleep. Still keeping Hickory wrapped in her arms for that deep purring noise keeping her together instead of what she really wanted but determined to keep her infant upstairs, she sat down next to him and ran her nails through his hair, smiling slightly when he tilted his head towards her touch.

"They'll get through this, they always have," Lily promised.

"Exactly how many times has some kid come plopping down into their life to tell them in detail how you lot were going to die?" Harry demanded, his words muffled and all the more grateful he

couldn't see the look he knew would be on her face for that.

He was right not to look, he decided, when her voice came out so strained but still as sure as ever. "Doesn't change what I said, they're the most resilient lot I've ever known in my life. They'll bounce back from this just because that's who they are."

When Harry didn't respond to this, she instead tried, "Remus will forgive you, the man can't seem to hold a grudge anymore than he can avoid laughing at his mates," except towards himself she

mentally finished with a pained wince for the poor dear.

Harry peaked up at her then, whispering, "I'm killing you all, why should any of you forgive me?"

Lily swapped to smacking him on the forehead, across his scar, and he went cross-eyed for a moment but his stricken expression didn't change. "You are doing no such thing," Lily snapped.

"Even if we could, we wouldn't change our own past! I'd fall in love with James again, I'd have you as my first child all over again, I wouldn't change a thing that's happened in my life because of everything it's gifted me. Can you really say you wouldn't come here and meet us if you had the choice right now?"

Harry met her eyes, and felt worse than ever he would deny no such thing. Did that really make him a terrible person though, just to meet his parents, to have his chance again to see Sirius? He'd kept struggling with this the more he cared for is own friends, when had they switched to being his family? Now they were all he had left from that time, he wouldn't ever want to live without them, but could he give that up for being with his new one?

He was saved from having to answer that now by Sirius stomping back in and kicking Harry's chair.

"What did I do now?" Harry asked as he looked up at him, still sounding more exhausted than anything, though not entirely able to cover his awe he was still able to just look at his godfather,

still just have a casual conversation with him.

"Since when did I need a reason to get your attention?" Sirius demanded back, before tapping him on the forehead with the book. "It's your turn by the way, think you can manage that without

causing another storm?"

It was spoken as a jest, but Harry managed something resembling a smile at Sirius still looking out for him, his every indication saying he'd keep going if Harry couldn't. He'd been a fool, of course this was still his Sirius, Azkaban may have changed him, but nothing could really take him away.

He took it and followed James and Remus still muttering to each other into the living room, the two sitting down on the double seater while Harry still felt heavy with guilt for what he'd said, it was saying something Remus would still be in the same room with him as he sat down between his mother and Sirius to try and start.

They didn't know, and they didn't care what came next, whatever hellish thing was set to end Harry's fifth year. It wasn't going to mean much except Harry still walking those halls, truly the

only thing they could stand hearing about at this point.

Sirius tried in vain for a giggle, sharing with the others his instant idea of Dumbledore just waltzing into the school just to repair his office.

James countered with McGonagall might have done it, and the two may well have turned the whole thing into a debate of who was more likely to have done that under Umbridge's nose if Lily

hadn't kept their attention. Harry was only just keeping himself pulled together, his voice still shook with every word and he was all but glued to Sirius' side while remembering a grief he'd

only just suffered through in here, and though watching the two avidly, it would only hurt him more the longer that had to linger in his mind. The two quickly realized all of this and shut

themselves up as soon as she'd cleared her throat.

Harry could feel the protest boiling around him, but he had to get this out, he didn't want to hear any false securities right now, venting as loud as he could.

"No, no, no, and extra no!" Sirius still managed to speak over him. "Harry, how could you blame yourself for something you had no clue of at the time!?"

"Everyone was warning me this would-"

"No one told you shit!" Sirius barked back, keeping one eye on Harry's bleak face and the other on his mates who were both breathing rather heavily again as well as if stopping themselves from screaming.

"Hermione did," Harry breathed, and though nestled right beside his godfather, there was still that dark hole that may have grown smaller with time, but seemed open fresh and wide now Harry

could not shake off, the thoughts still plaguing him all these years later if he'd only listened...

"Then blame her," Sirius seemed to conclud, even as he watched Harry with a small little smirk and knowing what to expect.

He got exactly that, Harry looked at him utterly affronted, "it was my fault for not listening to her, not her job to force me to!" He didn't look like he was going to start crying anymore.

"You did listen to her," Sirius agreed as much to sooth that temper as make Harry hear what he was saying.

"Even when none of us would, you wouldn't let us yell at her for doing so," James uneasily agreed, now wishing he'd thought more of that at the time as well.

"Then Kreacher did some twisted mess, and Umbridge got in the way, and you had no reason to think otherwise," Sirius' face couldn't help but cloud at the end himself, how the world seemed

stacked against Harry like that.

"Yeah, what was with that," Remus snarled quietly under his breath. "Why did Kreacher lie then of all times?"

"Doesn't particularly feel like he chose then to grow a sense of shitliss humor," James agreed foully.

They didn't actually have an answer for that, and now the one person who could have forced him to say what had been going through that deranged elf's mind was no longer around to do so...

Sirius swallowed hard when he realized his own words had backfired, and for a moment he let Harry keep going just to keep himself collected. He enjoyed hearing about this no more than them, honestly hated himself more than anyone ever could, for doing what he'd done to Harry, leaving him like that, failing James and Lily and his godson for his stupid arse getting caught and leaving the last of his family alone. If he thought about that too long he'd see red again, the only thing keeping himself in check was making absolutely sure Harry would always know the real truth, it wasn't his fault.

Lily made a keening noise as she reached out for her child, could no more let him be alone with this than let her infant go without food. Harry leaned into her touch, knowing he wasn't alone now

as he had been during the worst moment of his life then. Lily carded her fingers through his hair as gently as she could while her mind viciously demanded what had Dumbledore been thinking

putting him back in there all alone, where was Remus or the rest of the Order, someone?!

The page snapped out of place as if it were Phineas' face. He couldn't help it, no matter the stupid petty insult it was, no one was ever going to talk about Sirius like that!

Lily quickly reached over and fixed it, smoothing it back into place while keeping worried eyes on him, but he hardly acknowledged her look, continuing like nothing had happened, though they could feel by the second something was churning in him, just waiting for a release.

Harry had to breathe carefully through his nose or that was going to end on a sob again. He'd had his moment, pouring his past out that way onto his godfather now, he wouldn't just keep breaking

down and crying like some child every time it was mentioned now!

"That school has never been anything remotely dull," Remus muttered, though there was no inflection in his voice, they were still reeling from too many emotions to feel something simple like a joking tone right now.

"Oh, this again!" Lily burst out in frustration so loud everyone around her jumped and her cat ruffled and glared up at her.

"I swear if that man doesn't do some explaining, I'm going to-" Sirius cut himself off before he'd let his stupid threat pass through his lips. He'd been fixing to say haunt him, but even he knew he couldn't get away with that without Harry breaking down again in his lap and his mates possibly murdering him here and now.

"Good," Harry sighed in relief, though he'd winced heavily while saying so as he'd hardly spared a thought for them while hounding after Bellatrix. He already couldn't really forgive himself for

what had happened to Sirius, he'd have wasted away to nothing if the same had befallen his friends because of him as well.

Sirius made a little rumbling noise of concern, he'd loved to hear of how his little cousin had turned out and didn't like imagining what Bellatrix had done to her.

Lily sighed deeply, her hand still a comfort on him. Dumbledore was only trying to say what many would in that instance, they weren't naive in thinking he'd never lost anyone as surely the

man had parents or some such at some time in his life, but what Harry needed most now was the one thing he'd just been denied for the rest of his life, and no sympathy on anyone's part would

make that better.

"I thought that was implied," James said through a thick throat, his voice cracking at the end anyways, that was not a memory he wanted to be reminded of right now! His whole body shook,

he could have fallen over in that moment from too much loss, but then like he had so many times for Sirius, Remus leaned over and whispered something in his ear. James muttered something back, and while he still seemed to be having trouble breathing, he desperately waved on anyone who would change the bleeding subject.

James could sympathize, he'd feel the same way of anyone who walked in right now, almost wished for it as he needed someone to take all this out on, he just couldn't even imagine doing so

to those around him.

"That's not helping!" Remus said lowly, fighting shaking limbs himself just to keep upright, and now took back his own thought. Did Dumbledore know nothing of comforting someone in pain?

In all honesty there was no comfort for this, but that certainly hadn't been a way to go!

Sirius swallowed hard as Harry managed to shout all of that with the same intensity, that anger from before bleeding right through back into him now.

None dared to stop his tirade, letting him vent and yell all that out and honestly wanting to join in. It felt like too much, he just kept loosing everything, and they no longer had the will to promise it would get any better, not after this.

Lily watched Harry steadily even as she vaguly registered Dumbledore's words. There was what they'd been looking for, that truly did make it sound as if Dumbledore did know what Harry was

feeling, he did know what loss was...

That violent streak, though not a surprise, worried them the most. They'd seen that play out in here, and didn't want to know what Dumbeldore would do if Harry acted on that in there.

"Still not helping," Remus said again through gritted teeth. Constantly feeling on the verge of crying and refusing to act on it made him feel as if he were suffocating, but he refused to let

himself. If Harry punched him again than so be it, but the only thing keeping him listening was watching Sirius, knowing this hadn't happened to him, it wasn't going to, so he would not cry!

Sirius inhaled sharply as he understood that all to well. He'd felt that twice in his life, in very short amount of times. Once after what he'd done to Remus, he hadn't come out of the Forest for days and no one had even noticed his friends had all been so furious with him, he almost hadn't come back but finally guilt had triumphed over his own self loathing and so he'd returned. That very summer, after that night his parents had kicked him out, turned on him as no mother and father ever should to a child, and there was a reason it had taken him some time to make it to James place in the state he was, he'd simply ran all the way there. Those two stuck vividly in his mind, and he couldn't breath for a moment knowing Harry had to feel the same and it was still worse for him.

"Is he trying to be funny!" Lily said near hysterics now, feeling a wild mess herself at how alone her child was, how it felt like he could never have a single reprieve! She kept flashing back to

what he'd seen witnessing this happening to Cedric, but then Sirius had been there for him! Now he'd never have that again, and a few more tears traced down her cheeks for this future.

James went utterly still, like a wild animal that had just scented its prey.

"You are kidding me." James stated, and there was not a trace left of sorrow, though his face was still a blotchy red. "He knew-"

"James," Remus tried, honest fear galloping so hard through him his words still shook. "Prongs, he-"

"Shut up Remus!" James snapped right back, his eyes laser focused on Harry now. If Dumbledore was actually saying what James mind insisted he'd just heard, that man wasn't going to live, and

Remus nor anyone was going to stop him!

Harry couldn't say that properly, he still didn't want to believe it even as he'd had no choice.

Lily felt that catch in the back of her throat, her hand shaking in place upon Harry and he covered hers with his for a moment, but unable to look up, away from an answer he only wished he'd had at the beginning.

James felt a rushing noise in his ear, a fire that he still wanted to act on, but he'd hear Dumbledore out, know in detail if that man had really done the unthinkable regarding his family.

"No!" James snapped so sharply the cat hissed at him. "He's done nothing to earn that, and you need to keep your priorities right now!"

Harry shifted uncomfortably under such a quelling gaze, it helped nothing to remind him his father wasn't looking at him with that acquisitory look, but Dumbledore...right?

"A damn fool would wonder that, clearly except the man doing it," Lily hissed.

Harry's skin crawled, no matter the explanation that feeling still residing of how tainted he was, and now he had absolute proof of how true it was. He suddenly expected those around him to pull away, his errant thought from before festering into a sickening fear he could not shake. They should hate him, blame him for this happening to Sirius, Voldemort had been using him this whole time and now it was no longer just a thought but a fact, Voldemort had possessed him, was inside of him, maybe even now-

"It's alright Harry," Lily breathed in his ear, all of them had sensed the change jumping through Harry, his anger switching to something new and it wasn't the loss Sirius could help with, that was an expression none could stand to see on his face, he was back to feeling guilty and maybe something more.

She tried to take the book away from him, she couldn't stand to watch him suffer through this twice and though whatever idea that was in his head would continue, at least she could hopefully keep his attention on one problem she could fix, but Harry's grip only tightened around the binding, he wouldn't let it go. If he did, they could realize the same as him, and he couldn't lose them now, he just couldn't!

Then he made a desperate noise, every joint feeling like it was going to pop out of his body.

"Harry," James watched him in surprise, the only thing able to pull him away, to distract him from what he'd felt for Dumbledore and Sirius, but his son.

Harry wouldn't though, he wouldn't look at him, couldn't look at any of them, he knew what he'd see, what should have been there. Anger, hate, how could they not after what he'd done?

It all slide away with one brush of Sirius' hand. Just like every time Harry had needed him, Sirius was there now, making a little tisk noise and telling Harry, "alright, deep breaths there, I have proof now I'm not the center of the universe and I may need some comfort here soon."

He tried for a pleasant tone of voice. Harry just watched him with a feeling he knew he'd had until this moment, which vanished in a flash. Sirius didn't blame him, didn't hate him, even knowing Harry's part in this. He kept looking to his parents and back to him, and for a moment he didn't know what to do with this.

Sirius chuckled in surprise when Harry hugged him, but he took it in stride and just let him cling until he pulled back. Sirius wasn't even quite sure what that had been, but the deep warmth he felt that he'd helped Harry figure it out wasn't comparable.

James still felt that heat all across him, two levels as some part of him still wanted to murder Dumbledore on the spot for a full explanation of what exactly had been done to others lives, but also a feeling of peace he'd already accepted and now got to almost blissfully watch. It would never not burn he couldn't be there for Harry, but at least he had the one here who did.

Remus fidgeted uneasily Harry had an audience for this, as well as one in here. It was different for sure, but truly the boy had never had an alone moment in his life when he really needed one, as opposed to such a lonely childhood all he'd ever wanted was the one thing now gone.

"Would it have killed the bloody man to say that?" James said for only Remus, he was afraid if he spoke any louder he'd only hurt the others but he couldn't keep this bottled up. "So Voldemort

would know Dumbledore was trying to stop Harry seeing these things, I don't see the flaw in that!"

Remus couldn't either, he had no defense for his old idol, and he couldn't even think of him as that anymore, not after what he'd just confessed to doing.

Sirius now realized what he'd just saved Harry from thinking as his godson further leaned into him. He continued to look worriedly down at him, but his voice was trying hard not to keep that heavy tone, so Sirius must have convinced him this wasn't his fault.

Harry was so lost in his own mind, the tiny nudge of contradiction on his conciseness meant nothing to him right now.

"He what?" Lily began poisonously.

Sirius had felt betrayal, he knew he'd never feel something so deep again as when his mind flickered to a certain rat, but this was something new. An insulted pride for something he couldn't

have called, his mouth hanging open and just waiting for a punchline he was sure was coming, because this was a sick joke, right?

"No." Sirius said the one word in a flat, cold tone that chilled Harry to the bone. "He did not, he could not- what did I do..." he trailed off though and Harry shivered harder than ever, wondering if he'd just hear Sirius beyond the veil.

"That, that vile, that-" James spluttered, beyond words now. He'd never even meet Sirius' elf, and that was probably a good thing right now, his mind didn't need any more fuel for the burning

mental images playing through.

Harry shushed them though, as unwilling to let Sirius think he'd done something stupid as Sirius always did for him. This was not his fault, something more was going on there...

"You have got to be kidding!" Lily hissed, feeling all of this spin through her mind sickeningly fast now. "All of them were there, and not one of them heard Harry shouting in the kitchen! Came down to see what Kreacher was laughing at! What, how-"

There was something twisted up inside of Remus, a snarled thread of reminder he was one of those, and Lily seemed to realize this at the same time and stopped protesting how the world was out to kill everything that mattered to her.

That part hadn't surprised Sirius, the wretched little thing it was always laughed at misery of any kind, especially his, and to know the feeling he'd have hearing of Harry like this, Kreacher would be ecstatic.

Sirius couldn't imagine hiding that fact from anyone, he'd wear it proud on his shoulders just like he would his little pup some day when he was big enough. It couldn't be though, something like

that couldn't get you killed, the world wasn't such a cruel place something like that could exist!

Harry could feel that now, remember that vividly as it tried to cut through his words, but Harry wouldn't let them stop him, he had to hear all of this while he still had the breath.

Sirius made a strangled noise, his eyes fit to pop out of his head, his hands twitching maddeningly. That elf had hurt his hippogriff to keep him away from Harry, had been the cause of all this! James could do what he liked to Dumbledore for withholding all this from Harry, but Sirius was very soon fixing to be without a servant the moment he stepped out of here!

James spluttered something that may have been forced laughter. He just couldn't believe Dumbledore was still saying this, even now! That f'ing thing should have been put out of its misery rather than what it had ultimately done to his brother!

Sirius felt a funny tugging feeling inside him, he never would have thought saying his own name as a joke would ever hurt, but for the first time in his life he questioned weather he even should. He'd never once done it around Harry in his time, and though he lived to do it for his friends never ending annoyance, it somehow didn't feel right now that the idea was firmly set in stone he may not get to do it again some day.

Then he glanced at Harry, and he knew he'd never regret saying, "I always take things Siriusly."

There was a heart stopping beat, like now that Harry was told his godfather had passed he'd somehow lost the nerve to laugh at all for anything relating to him. It was proven untrue the

moment Harry chuckled and looked to him with a happy shake to his head, muttering, "that's never going to get old."

Sirius smirked and straightened up in his seat, absolutely in agreement with his godson.

"Now you see why!" Remus snarled, his hand itching to go for his wand and slit someones throat out for this. "That, that- no human could do this and laugh!"

"Then he should have been released like I wanted him to be!" Sirius howled in frustration, finding yet another mark to chalk against that aged old man. "I never wanted him there! If I'd had my way he'd have crawled into a grave and none of this would have happened!"

"He went too easy on that thing!" James said in pure disgust, "by not ripping its eyes out!"

Lily watched all of them get whipped into a frenzy over Kreacher, and her arms tightened around her cat, her hair falling across her face in a bit of shame she didn't feel the same. She still pitied Kreacher more than anything, seeing the manipulation that must have gone on there. Sirius had never said a kind word to him in his life, had only made his being there more unbearable, and

even now it seemed they couldn't see their own mistake.

Sirius just huffed and wouldn't look at anyone for that. He didn't want to think about that right now, how shitty his life was after the next Halloween, or that feeling was going to overwhelm him all over again they'd never find a way to change it.

"Now he's just doing it on purpose," Remus muttered into the oddly deadly silence. Sirius hadn't even seemed to have heard Harry that time, his wide green eyes watching his godfather with

worry like all of them were for the lack of comment.

Sirius had to drag himself back around and see why they were all staring at him, then he fixed a smile into place but just waved Harry on without comment.

"That makes all his behavior okay then!" James spluttered in outrage. "All his taunts, his complete lack of any human emotion when trying to help Harry when it should have been that old cod who couldn't give you the time of day for fear it would ruin his own plans!" James was so close to shouting by then the cat finally had enough and slinked restlessly out of Lily's arms. She watched him flit from the room tail in the air and honestly felt like following, she couldn't hear much more of this without having her own breakdown. She could already see where this was going, how much Harry and all of them hated Snape and so his part, or lack of it during this instance would not go through quietly.

Lily tucked her hand more firmly around Harry, her nails digging in a bit as she was well aware no matter what Dumbledore said, nothing would satisfy him right now, but she understood it. It

was only human this, she just couldn't imagine doing this herself, blaming all these problems on one man.

Sirius tried to ruffle himself up, to eye Harry and bring up an old argument, "you think I let something like what that man said to me do anything to me?" It didn't come off like he meant it,

his voice still too heavy, Harry's reality crashing down on all of them more every second, this future no one person should live through.

Then Sirius winced for repeating Dumbledore at a time like this, chancing a glance at James who just shook his head for his best mate always seeming to get the last word, even through Dumbledore.

"Which is all the more loathsome now that we have the full understanding for that," Remus said quietly but with such a promise of violence none would be surprised to see his wand appear. None disagreed either, what Snape had done in that moment was like what he'd done to Lily all over again. He'd left Harry to deal with Voldemort all on his own, instead of treating this like one should have, pushing his childhood problems aside and focusing on why Harry needed him.

"Conceded old birk!" James said flatly. "The man's the best one for the job of that happening when it did, the only one who could have found some way to explain to Harry why it was instead

of getting Snape of all people to farce some explanation about this!" James was breathing heavily, he couldn't decide who he was most angry at anymore, Dumbledore, Kreacher, Snape, all three

could have dropped dead in front of him this second and he wouldn't bat an eye, would probably be tucking his own wand away after doing it himself!

"You can't convince me otherwise," Sirius seethed, hearing Kreacher's part of the plan put it together easily in his head, how many around Harry had set this up, and he didn't believe for a second Snape had done anything to help. That bat had dragged his feet in telling everyone, taken his bloody precious time informing of the situation, and then wasted time puttering around

'looking' for the kids after they'd long gone. Harry could have died before the Order had reached them, and Sirius wold never forgive that.

"Oh, it can admit when it's wrong!" James said through gritted teeth, "f'ing too late!" Dumbledore seemed to have been at fault for everything that had happened to Sirius!

"That man doesn't know me at all, though that was made perfectly clear," Sirius snapped with pure loathing, Dumbledore speaking for him at a time like this.

Sirius blinked slowly, as at least that was true, but there was a coppery taste in his mouth for Dumbledore having to speak for him, a taint that wouldn't leave he'd never have the chance to

speak to Harry again...

"No Harry," Sirius softly whispered, he'd never let Harry forget this one. "I came to get you out of there, just like I always would. Doesn't matter if I was on the opposite side of the planet free as a bird, I'd still show up there for you."

Sirius shivered while Harry gave a heavy sigh, neither appreciating that.

James fingers were digging furiously into his palms, he quite agreed with Harry but as his son worked all of this out from his past James didn't have that same release, had no one he could

properly vent at and that just kept building inside him.

Lily couldn't help but scoff a bit in disgust. "Oh yes, tell him all the answers now when he's sick with grief and wants nothing to do with you!"

"Twisted bit of sense that, Harry's angry at something else and can't snap at Dumbledore for the more important detail," Sirius muttered.

Harry heard four deeply disgusted noises around him for that.

"He knew!" Harry heard the splutter of outrage around him, knew he should have felt something for that as well, but honestly when he looked up he saw Dumbledore's timing had been perfect.

They were so drained, exhausted, and hurt from having to live through Sirius' death that no matter how much they wanted to rage for this as well, it would not erupt. It was simmering below each of them, Harry could feel it himself as he could already count the days again of when he'd be going back, but for now, talking would keep the fire back.

Remus still had enough of himself to shake his head in disgust. He still couldn't believe that was Dumbledore's decision to make! Lily would never leave Harry to Petunia, she knew well her

sisters feelings for her. Clearly Sirius and...the other weren't an option at the time, and he wouldn't be able to...so then there was truly no one left but a bystander family. It still should have been their decision. Dumbledore was begin vain in saying no one would realize that taking in this particular infant was dangerous, but at least it would have been by choice, not something Dumbledore should have made for anyone!

"It wasn't worth it," Lily said at once, her face growing more ghastly by the moment as she still felt responsible for her child's terrible fate because of her blood. "Anything else could have been done, and he still would have grown up with more love and care than the absolute nothing he got."

"I don't believe that!" Sirius said in pure disgust. "Of all the magic in the world the man can do, that was the best he got? He himself admitted it would only be a temporary fix, it's not a long term solution, and so he still put you through his own admittance of suffering for nothing!"

This was not what Harry had been hoping to focus on, as if flipping from one fresh torture to an old festering wound.

"But he doesn't think of that as his home!" Remus dissected, trying anything like he was chatting with Dumbledore about this now. "He refers to Hogwarts, even the Burrow as more his home

than, than that place!"

"That's not-" Remus tried again, but Harry couldn't hear anymore. He was on the verge of something again, whether anger, sorrow, or something else he did not know, but he just couldn't hear this now.

"He didn't even have a room!" James bitterly protested his word choice. "He lived in a bloody cupboard the first ten years! They only changed that after they realized someone else knew! No,

that doesn't make what they did okay!"

"What about the Death Eaters anyways, he said that's the reason he didn't offer you to another family, they'd be attacked sooner than even Voldemort's return," Harry whispered miserably. He

wished more than them this hadn't happened, but he'd never wish the circumstances of his life on anyone else either, considering everyone around him suffered because of it.

"Clearly the protection runs against anyone who would do you harm, otherwise you'd be right in saying that should have happened," Lily bitterly pointed out.

Harry realized he was not going to get even a small bit of understanding from any of them.

Harry's heart thudded painfully in his chest as he realized this, the snarky comment flying through his mind of how Dumbledore had even sent Petunia more mail than him over that summer.

"That utter arse," James blinked in stunned disbelief. "He, I didn't thing Dumbledore was capable of sending a-"

"Honestly that just makes the whole thing all the more confusing," Lily seethed. "Why care whatever Dumbledore bloody says, it shouldn't have changed anything, they clearly don't care

what happens to you in the house! Why not abandon you the first time they could, they wouldn't care!" Lily jerked with the force of her own shouts, face ablaze with hatred for the thing that

should have held the responsibility of her child but instead had treated him like scum.

"How dare he even pretend to call it that!" Lily spat in disgust. "Those, those ruddy-"

"He choked our child!" James snarled, his hands still fisting up for that reminder. That hadn't even been the only occurrence, the constant insults, the frying pan, instant after instant of questioning the humanity of them, the legality part wasn't even in debate if someone looked at it for even a moment! And it was all Dumbledore's fault!

Both were sitting forward in their seats, their grief was quickly slipping into murderous anger again, both wanted to crack Dumbledore's head open for putting Harry through this suffering just as he'd done to Sirius, when they still blamed half the mess of him winding up in Azkaban on the old man as well! It didn't feel right, how could he have done this? Who was he to decide this for their child!?

"What the bloody hell would Dumbledore have done if they'd killed him?" Sirius demanded, his teeth bared, eyes wild. "They came bloody close to starving him, glory knows how much they really hurt him!"

"Stop," Harry finally pleaded before they could go full blast with this, of listing every single thing he'd mentioned and what they'd pulled together themselves. "I know okay, it's just...wouldn't you rather hear the rest than yelling about this?"

"Can't we do both?" Remus demanded snidely, but Harry ignored them and kept going more quietly than he needed to in hopes they really would stop.

Harry heard it again, that deep throated noise all around him promising no one thought this excusable or at all okay.

"The man's damn lucky you even made it there," James snarled. "Considering they tried to stamp out your magic to begin with!"

Harry shivered at the reminder but was clearly still determinedly ignoring them.

"There should never have been a challenge!" Lily seethed in protest, all her fears of Harry's first year ultimately confirmed right then. "He set you up! He wanted that bloody Stone there, he

wanted to see how you'd handle it!"

Remus felt nothing for that like he would have thought. There was a time where Dumbledore's word meant everything to him, but that feeling was getting harder to recall the more he heard.

Harry should have been honored to have such a thing, but after all he'd been through because of their old headmasters decision, it felt more like the man should be begging forgiveness than

showing off pride.

"His plan," Lily bitterly repeated, not caring one damn bit about anything of his plan right now, she wanted Harry as far away from that man as Voldemort.

Harry felt that deep, soothing feeling of why he hadn't been as angry as those around him, like he'd been expecting a warm hug and had received just that.

He chanced a look at the others and saw they didn't share the same feeling.

"Cared my arse," James muttered, his face still set in a hard line of frustration as he watched his child, still imagining his crying infant with no comfort to come. "What that man put you through doesn't at all sound like he gave a damn."

Harry winced and kept going anyways.

"He can't say one thing while doing another," Lily said with pure ice. "He can not just say he cared about you above others while leaving you to go back there against your wishes!"

Remus caught Sirius' eye though, and they felt a tiny niggle of understanding for just a moment. Were they any better? If Harry had to go there right now to protect the rest of the world from

falling under Voldemort's reign...and they couldn't do it. No matter how terrible that made them, they still couldn't bring themselves to accept this as their fate, they'd just have to find some other answer, there had to be one!

James couldn't breath. He wanted to keep screaming, threatening Dumbledore and promising this was never going to actually happen to his child, but here finally was the answer for that. The truth

of why it had happened at all...so he caught Lily's eyes and finally managed to still her as well, a deathly calm settling over them for the one thing that would stop the retribution against the Dursley's and anyone, what had happened to make this their future?

Harry could feel it, like a rubber band fixing to snap into place somehow helping all of this to make sense, and he worried his words would come out to jumbled for them to make sense even as

kept going.

"Bloody hell," James was the first to speak in the echoing silence, and it wasn't even that coherent.

"That, is, insane," Lily spoke this clearly in fear anyone would misunderstand. "Voldemort, is out to kill Harry, because of a prophecy!"

"But, but those things-" Remus kept blinking spastically, but no new words popped up to prove he wasn't hearing things. "They're, they're a farce, a whim at best to tell you-"

"But they're not, are they," Sirius whispered, his face haggard. "They're bloody real, and somehow Voldemort knows it."

"I-" James couldn't keep going, none of them could. Their future was in ruins because of a Seer!

Harry only kept going from the will of having to know everything, the answer right on the tips of his fingers though those around him still sat like gaping fish at this news.

"Sixteen years!" Lily repeated with hissed fury. Her shock wore off fast enough to latch onto this bit of information. "The Order knows about this, Dumbledore knows about this right now!"

"But, he hasn't, we haven't-" James tried to protest this. Yet it was there. Harry was only fifteen during this, which meant this had happened while Lily was still pregnant. "He hasn't told us!"

James got angry again as well, shock switching to all but shouting again at once. "Is this why he even let us into the Order! To keep an eye on-"

"I'm going to kill him," Lily snarled in disgust, there was no more question about this, and no one said otherwise.

Harry still twitched uneasily, though there wasn't a trace of any of them showing they didn't mean it, Harry still kept plowing on, though at this point even he wasn't sure why, it still only managed to keep getting worse.

Harry's mind floundered for just a moment, but a squeak of protest informed him this shocking moment held no more care than a fly on the wall, not now.

Sirius could still remember the last prophecy seared into his memory, every word had convinced him it had been his undoing, and it had been completly wrong. Now he finally understood this had

been what made Voldemort come after Harry! Something so entirly vague it could have applied to a dozen people, and Voldemort had chosen his best mate! His godson! It didn't feel real! Like

nothing else before since this mayhem had started with Harry landing in their kitchen, Sirius felt like he was dreaming, a nightmare though, that in such a short amount of time lives would end all becasue of-

James couldn't help it, he breathed in relief. "This is ridiculous!"

"James, I know you don't like them, but you can't deny now," Remus tried to calmly say to a clearly irrational father-

"No, no!" James insisted, a smile edging at his features that held a slight tint of detached humor, but his eyes were edging for complete disregard of this world. "It has nothing at all to do with- that's why Dumbledore hasn't told us! Don't you see! It's not..." but he trailed off as he blinked again, the world snapped back into sharp focus, and he looked at Harry. From that very first day he'd convinced himself he'd somehow brought Voldemort down on his family, that he was the reason his sons life was the way it was. Now it was all because of a stupid prophecy gifted by Sybill Trelawney! In the most deranged way there was, he was almost happy again!

Then he'd realized the rest, that somehow, Voldemort had decided that nonsense was his son.

"How did he know?" The tone was such a shift they all watched him with even more worry, his voice now bleak and hollow. "Trelawney wouldn't have told Voldemort about this, Dumbledore didn't! How did Voldemort get a hold of this thing long enough to decide- why us!"

Lily had no answer for him, none of them did. There had to be any number of people out there who that prophecy spoke of, why was Harry alone left with this burden?

Harry couldn't even find it in himself to keep going, like the final nail in the coffin. The why didn't matter, it truly was his being alive that had cursed this family, Voldemort had chosen him and now everyone he knew suffered because of it. He wanted to snap the book shut, to walk right out of here and no one could stop him, why would they? He'd be leaving for good, he'd find Voldemort now and make sure he got exactly what he wanted...but he couldn't move. The idea was crystal clear in his mind, but his fingers wouldn't do the simple job of putting this all away, his feet seemed glued rather than the fierce energy driving him out. Why? The question that just kept coming up again and again for him, what more had he to learn from this that excused his existence, his infestation in their lives?

He realized why he couldn't bolster that anger at Dumbledore then, because he was just as bad as him. He wouldn't leave them, because he cared too much about them. He wanted to stay here as

long as he could, until he had no other choice, still childishly clinging to that hope of something, an answer that would make all of this okay. The prophecy hadn't done that...so was there more?

There had to be, everything he felt believed in that, so amidst all of their still whispering panics and mutters, Harry still kept going, that was all he could do.

Sirius growled still more loudly over Harry, "I have a solution, lets just kill this one and be done with it! I'm sick of her ruining our lives!"

Harry was much more sure Sirius didn't mean that one, he was still speaking out of besotted anger he did deserve. What were the odds the same woman would do this twice to him in such a short amount of time?

Harry fidgeted with the page, still feeling his parents words, honestly wishing for the same, that Voldemort had not decided his family was the one this meant...but if not him, then it would have been someone else, and did they deserved this any more or less than him?

"Exactly, that's what I was-" James mutinously tried to keep going.

Lily felt her heart still in her chest, eyes narrowing as her mind flew with that information, well aware of how true that was...and she gave a deep, broken sob. "Oh, oh this is-" she couldn't keep going, raking her nails through her hair with fury at what her mind was showing her.

"Lily," James whispered, wanting to hold her tight to him and never let go, but she was not to be comforted right now.

"Don't you see, we were fooling ourselves! Of course Voldemort didn't pick just one and go with that! The attack on Alice and Frank, Voldemort probably has a list of family's like ours! He has Death Eater's going to every one of them to, to silence and make sure-" It had been said the attack on their friends had happened shortly after Voldemort's downfall, but how shortly? The story had been spread the Death Eaters had been torturing the Longbottoms for information, but what if they'd simply been having some fun before moving onto their goal, the infant. Was it possible they hadn't even herd word of what had happened to their master yet and been acting out his orders still?

"That doesn't make this unavoidable," Remus said flatly, his hand on James shoulder and watching her with absolution. "We figure that out as well! I'll bet you anything that's why Dumbledore hasn't told you lot about this yet! He's deciding who Voldemort is going to pick as well, probably got his own list of family's! We get them as well, we make sure Voldemort can't take this out on anyone!"

Harry watched them agree, the fight bolstering back in them that he couldn't quite feel. It all still felt inevitable to him, but he tried to blame that on his scar, that it had already happened to him. For them, this was still a concept, something they were going to fix, and if this was one of the ways Harry wasn't going to be one to stop them even if he couldn't find the hope it would work.

James still snarled in outrage, Dumbledore couldn't let them just have one moment of peace! That man just had to ruin whatever life they tried to have, as if he wanted this to happen! There must be

some other way to defeat Voldemort than what some bloody Seer said, there had to be!

"More one than the other," Harry muttered as he took pause for a moment to rub at it, as if they'd forgotten.

Sirius did as he always would, he started wondering aloud any errant thought flitting across his mind to chat to the others about. "Could Neville have taken the Prophecy? If it's meant for the person who it was spoken of, and Neville and Harry were both candidates-"

"No, I don't think so. Dumbledore said it himself, he made me the child." Harry reminded, his voice much calmer than the others would have guessed for this topic, but clearly as they weren't

discussing his past about Sirius and his living arrangements, he was almost back to normal.

"Sirius, you are a wonder," Lily said flatly, meaning to scold for trying to jump off topic, but he just smiled when she couldn't really get that tone.

James was still riled up with disgust. "How dare he! My son- nothing like him-" but his furious mutterings weren't cutting into Harry now, he could see the end in sight, and more than ever

before, he just wanted to be done with his part. He wished it hadn't been so just as much, but their terse mutters changed nothing, only action did that, and Harry had to act on his.

Harry's pulse quickened at the new tirade of insults around him, but as always he could feel the importance of that without knowing why. It was some scum Death Eater, he realized the same as the others, some information carried on by a careless person who gave not a thought for the consequences of what they were sharing. So why then did Harry feel no want for a death he

should have, that ultimately made his parents?

"I don't know Harry, that look you give me sometimes is something I'm sure Voldemort never could," Sirius told him with an attempt at his chipper tone, the constant anger and fear around him

feeling suffocating.

Harry gave him that exact look, watching his godfather in pure exasperation for a moment before shaking his head and continuing while Sirius smirked at the others who continued to look at him

as if for his health, but it had worked for just a moment, they were all fighting back a smile as well for him.

Harry gazed down at that for a long time before he looked again at his mother. It hurt to even take his eyes off her, the woman he'd wanted most to meet in his entire life. He craved to know about his father, but through Sirius even for the briefest second he'd had just that. There had been no one for her though, not Molly or anyone could ever cause him to feel like he was watching her brush at her hair, eyes meeting in the way only theirs could. He still didn't understand, not really. He loved her, he loved all of them, but why then was that all it took to defeat someone as powerful as Voldemort, when he knocked such things as love aside like they were nothing? James had loved them, but he had been tossed out of the way without so much as a glance. Yet Lily's love for him had saved his life. Where was the key to this answer, that Voldemort somehow bestowed upon him?

They could gain no answer for this. Somehow, again, Dumbledore's answer felt like no answer, but finally, they could not hold that against him. He could only speak of what he knew, and perhaps even Dumbledore didn't know this as the answer, but was only speaking more speculation. Finally then, they felt they knew all he did, and they'd just have to work out the rest for themselves.

"As endless a cycle as Hermione's time-turner," Sirius softly returned. "You should have known all along not to come, if you had than none of this would have happened, if and if, we can go back as far as you want Harry, but that makes nothing your fault. You couldn't change your past no matter how many possibilities there were."

Harry still kept searching his gaze and finally seemed to find what he was looking for, though it had been there all along. His voice was not steady, but at long last he knew without any regrets why this had happened, and he couldn't hate the fact that he'd loved his godfather enough to do this to him.

Harry waited then, vividly remembering their reaction to his using one lone Unforgivable curse against someone who had inexplicably deserved it. He waited for them to finally be afraid of him, convinced if this hadn't done it than perhaps his family was truly mad.

Then James scoffed and muttered, "why do I get the feeling there's some stupid catch to that as well?"

"Because this whole thing has been one long gotcha'," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I'm just so glad Dumbledore thinks he's got this prophecy all worked out," Remus agreed bitterly.

Lily seemed no more able to believe it, leaning over Harry's shoulder and hoping he was done soon, trying to completely disregard the fact that Dumbledore had just told her child he had to be a murder. As if that man hadn't done enough to Harry's life.

Harry wasn't sure what to make of them, but while he forced himself to try and finish with some sense of ease they weren't disgusted with him, it helped nothing to ease his mind of the rest to come.

Sirius tried to do that now, just to prove he still could it seemed, but the effort only offered a sharp noise like a kicked puppy.

It went unmocked, but it made the sharp sting return to all eyes. This just could not be it, they refused to accept this as the end to their Padfoot. They'd find a way to save him as much as James

and Lily.

"Not another one, I can't take much more of these," James whispered.

Sirius blinked once, twice, and then it came through, his bark like laughter filling the room. He just couldn't believe his ears, after all that, Dumbledore had decided to say the one thing that had been on no one's mind!

Lily watched him throw his head back with that carefree laugh of his. In school, the noise had been maddening, like a braying donkey. Now she honestly considered it one of the most cheerful

noises that could be, right along with her baby's giggling and James soft chuckle. It was something that still made them all smile, that infectious noise they all knew they would never seen end.

Sirius shook himself slightly in pity for laughing so hard when Dumbledore was reduced to tears, something none of them had ever envisioned was possible. Sirius had laughed his way through

much of life, seeming to find the only way to make others hear you was to start with something as attention grabbing as a good laugh. That's how he'd gained his friends, it's how he'd lived through his summers, laughing off everything he could. Apparently that's how he was going to die as well.

HPHPHPHPHP

I've never been subtle in showing I don't particularly like Dumbledore's character, he was a man given too much power and decided too many fates he shouldn't have, which was all proven in this very chapter. Yet like with everybody, the mans gets his redemption's in the next two books. Like with Snape, Harry very clearly forgave Dumbledore for this and everything, so if you think thinks got to heated in this, remember to wait till the end. I love you all!

*I sympathize with this a lot. Whenever the world feels to much to me, I go on long walks with my dog, this line echoes in my head, I can't imagine what Dumbledore did to Harry really is okay. The guy just needed to get away for a moment before he was talked to. This isn't like last year where I can see Dumbledore's side in needing to hear everything. It wouldn't have been a

kindness for Harry to have a break before sharing all that. This time though Dumbledore didn't need information, Harry should have been allowed to just flat run and not look back until he chose to, but I guess that's just a personal opinion.


	39. THE SECOND WAR BEGINS

Harry couldn't really look Remus in the face when he gave the book a gentle toss to him. He was sure it meant something he was even still around after all this, but Harry really had not a clue

what, it couldn't be him. He honestly had not a clue why Remus flipped to the right chapter and got started, he was honestly grateful as he knew he couldn't stand to do anymore and just hoped this was almost over.

"Miracles do happen!" James mock cheered.

"James I would not refer to any of this as miraculous," Lily grumbled.

"No, not the part about- you know what I meant Lily," he huffed.

"Oh, you're reading a paper," Sirius quickly grasped while still laughing at the two.

"Hermione was," Harry corrected, the memory easily swimming to the surface, honestly grateful that something could flow back to him naturally.

"Lord Byron?" Remus politely offered.

Five collective snorts of laughter. It seemed impossible after all they'd heard, but honestly with that alone Fudge pulled a genuine smile of amusement from all of them, though it was perhaps tainted at the implausibility of this taking so long to post this, a year later.

The smile slipped right back off for the four from this time, they didn't appreciate the reminder considering they got those once a week it felt like.

"I've been wanting them to eat their words, and yet it's not anywhere near as satisfying as I'd have hoped," Harry grumbled.

"Aren't I always," Harry grudgingly agreed with Hermione now as he had then.

"Haven't heard you called that in a while," James grumbled, "it was kind of nice."

"I'll still take that over what they were calling him," Lily huffed.

"Where on earth will they find their source of entertainment now," Sirius said deadpan.

"I'm just happy he's not acting like Sirius anymore," Remus offered.

"When do I ever act like a loopy fool?" Sirius demanded.

"As much," Remus finished as if he hadn't been interrupted.

James eyes went mock wide in surprise, putting his hand against his cheek with his mouth open slightly as the picture of shock.

"They would never do such a thing, oh wait," Lily briskly agreed.

Harry gulped and still fidgeted heavily. He in no way wished to ever hear of that spell again, but he had the nasty feeling it wasn't the last time Dolohov used such a thing, and next time it may not be so nonverbal...but then the hateful pain returned, and Harry still knew it wasn't over. Even if some part of him larger than ever wanted to quit now before he had to ever feel what he was again for what he'd lost that day, his mind would permanently suffer for it.

Sirius got a hearty snort for that, somehow his disgust for that rubbish increasing even when they were back to publishing sense.

"Good for her," Remus said honestly.

Harry almost got a smile back in place, more warmth than they'd seen in his expression since he'd come back from the Ministry. Sharing a joke like that really could do wonders.

James gasped, all of the boys looking scandalized such a thing had been done while Lily rolled her eyes at them. "Honestly, did you want it up forever? Having to get through a swamp just to

attend classes?"

"Yes," was their instant response, and she rolled her eyes again to try and hide a twitching smile.

"Oh, well that's okay then," Sirius' shoulders were still slumped in a bit of disappointment, but at least there had been a mark left.

"At least we can still say we love Flitwick," Remus chuckled.

"And that's exactly what any proper man would do," James smirked.

"Aww," Lily cooed.

"I can see where Ron gets this idea to share food to make others feel better," Sirius chuckled, "I think it's what the twins do."

"Well they did try to share a toilet seat, so I wouldn't put it past them," Remus snickered.

Harry glanced around, but not one of them made a snippy comment for Hermione's disapproval again. They were still reeling from their harsh reactions to her, to what she'd been saying and it

turning out to be true...and they didn't know what to feel about her now.

"I'd almost be depressed if I wasn't so relived," James sighed.

James scoffed deeply in disgust for that, he knew how he felt about that one!

Remus' voice held an edge as well none had ever heard before when speaking of him, but Remus kept going trying to ignore it himself.

All five of them looked more than sour for that being said, they honestly wished Filch would be thrown out when Umbridge left as well for what he tried to do to those students, but if they'd had

their way, Snape would have long since left as well.

"I can not believe you're even in the same room with, with that-" Lily was so angry her words spluttered off in disgust. That cat litter should be in Azkaban for what she nearly did to Harry!

"Neither can I," James quirked a brow in surprise even as he was frowning in disappointment. "How on earth did the centaurs give her up? I was hoping her body would just never be found again!"

Remus muttered something shrewdly as he eyed that. He tried to find the awe and fascination from his youth at the entity that was Dumbledore, how he truly seemed able to do anything, but it

was still overshadowed by everything he'd done to Harry's life. It was much easier to focus on the idea of why he'd bothered, and he got no more answer for that.

"Oh right, about that," Sirius gave a dramatic pause, taking a deep breath, before being just one tone away from shouting, "how dare she do that to you! If you hadn't f'ing known how to do the

Patronus charm thanks to Remus, you'd be worse than dead! I swear if I don't hear of that wretched thing getting Kissed herself, I'm going to have to find some other way to suck out her soul!"

"Been holding that one in long?" Harry asked mock pleasantly.

"A bit, yeah," Sirius agreed. "Glad you gave me the chance to bring it up again."

"Madam Pomfrey should be using shocks," Lily huffed.

James made a little noise that may have been a mocking laugh.

All five burst into righteous laughter, but there wasn't a trace of honest humor to be found. Honestly they just wanted to applaud Ron for finally giving this moment.

"More like a nightmare," Remus corrected in the most pleasant tone he'd ever used when speaking of her.

"Of all the classes to get two separate teacher's in," Sirius muttered, ignoring the harsh thump that was his innards at the reminder of her.

"That suddenly made a bit more sense," Sirius said restlessly.

"Can't have just been Dumbledore doing a decent thing, standing up to Umbridge and not letting her leave," Lily said, all wistfulness gone of anyone just doing a kind act anymore.

"Oh no," James agreed, "he was keeping her away from Voldemort." He tried to end with a smile for her, knowing what that downturn of Lily's lips were, and she did feel just a bit better that even

with an ulterior motive she wasn't the only one trying to find the kindness in all this.

"Doesn't make the idiots delivering them any better." Sirius honestly having the urge to go find that room and smash every one of those things now, regretting ever even hearing about them for

all the trouble they'd caused his family!

"I don't see why," James said haughtily. "You need a good laugh, and you're friends will do a better job than anyone telling you how ridiculous it all sounds."

"Now you're encouraging Hermione are you?" Harry asked dully.

James frowned in concern, they all did as Harry refused to shake this off in here like they were trying to give him a way to do, and for his careless tone alone James chose not to respond in hopes changing the subject would just be better.

Even as the others still looked murderous at Dumbledore putting that on Harry, wanting to blame their old headmaster and everyone else for continuing to try and force Harry down a path just

because of some stupid mystics, Harry couldn't help but brush absently at his scar for the first time since he'd been here, because it wasn't the one on his forehead. None of them seemed to notice a thing. He wished he could believe same as them, that there was some other way, some alternative to this terrible fate laid out for him, but it all felt so inevitable...

"Hagrid's back!" Sirius cheered unnecessarily loudly, but Harry hardly reacted, just the briefest little smile for the enthusiasm before his face settled back into that mask of unease.

Remus made an unconscious sympathetic noise, knowing that feeling all to well.

"I presume she's referring to Grawp," Remus said with an honest twitch of his lips.

"Don't know why she needed to phrase it like that," Sirius sighed, "I think the others around you can know about him by now." He was still watching Harry with worry. He may be clinging to Sirius in a whole new way, though now they understood why as he just seemed to be marveling at still being able to do so, but it almost seemed to hurt him now just to look at his godfather.

"Umbridge is in there, and even in shock, it's best not to go sharing what Hagrid gets up to right now," James unnecessarily reminded, Sirius had been well aware, they were both just trying to keep up some normal flow of conversation no matter how ineffective.

Harry was torn from his own thoughts to watch those shift around him uncomfortably, and quickly said, "No, I'm not..." but he trailed off, unable to put into words what it meant to have

them all around him now. He didn't want that now, but it didn't quite erase the feeling now residing in him.

The feeling of isolation he'd carried while being around his friends carried through in here, helped along nothing by their unwillingness to see what he saw, feel how true it was he must kill Voldemort. If they didn't understand that though, if they honestly thought there must be another way...

When Harry failed to give a real answer but instead was clearly struggling with something, Remus just decided to keep going. He wouldn't force a real answer out of him, but he wouldn't stop him

either if he needed a minute to himself, but until he stepped out this was all they could really do.

James managed an authentic laugh again, telling Harry, "there's that sense of humor I so love."

Harry tried for the same smile back, but it still sat just a touch awkwardly in his face to be believable.

"Will he still have to hear about it then to?" Sirius rolled his eyes.

James couldn't even offer that much, whatever Malfoy was suffering was only a tenth of what Harry had already learned to suffer through.

All of them were laughing obligingly now, though Harry's frown just deepened with some unknown concern, all he knew was he didn't like dismissing Malfoy right now.

Remus couldn't help the surprised burst of laughter that shot out, it really was like watching James and Snape the way these two went at each other so many years later with the names just swapped.

Sirius tried for a triumphant little smirk, but it was no good, the mention of that place just brought the echo of his own words back. He really hadn't been given his chance to accept that worthless Ministry's apologies now that they were listening to Harry...

While none gave a second of disagreeing as well, Harry couldn't help but look to his mother. Her face was a mask, lips trembling and white from feeling so much of this future. He almost believed

that now as well, but then, there was just this one part of him that stopped him...

Lily at least tried to hide her smirk for that, but even she failed at such boldness.

The room felt such a sudden rush of delirious happiness it was hard for a moment to even grasp the switch. None had exactly forgotten what had fallen their favorite teacher, but considering

everything else that had happened in the meantime they hadn't even a second to spare for it. Now here she was again as if she'd never left, swooping in for Harry once again!

"Snappy as ever," Sirius chuckled pleasantly.

James whooped with a delirious noise, even just something slightly good happening again and he wanted to dance and cheer, finally just one moment to show the word wasn't all death in this

future!

"Eat your toes Snivlius," Sirius sneered.

"It's eat your words. How did you even-?" Remus began in confusion, but Sirius wasn't even listening as he was still laughing too hard.

"Now wait a moment," Lily couldn't help but try to insert even as her eyes were still gleaming, but Remus polity shushed her and said what he knew she'd been fixing to.

"Ah," Lily said pleasantly while the boys were still snickering away, even Harry cracked an honest grin again for this.

"Only two hundred and forty," Remus quickly did the math even as he couldn't stop himself smirking. "She's much less generous than Dumbledore, he probably would have given a couple hundred each."

"Can't win that cup every year I suppose," Harry said grudgingly, his mind not even on the subject anymore as something as silly like the house cup felt like some far off fantasy of a worry.

"Give them all the bird Harry," James pleasantly instructed.

"A feat not any in here could manage I'm sure," Lily said pleasantly, she'd have a thing or to to say to anyone switching on a dime like this, Ron's ire of Quidditch team hopping would hold nothing.

Harry felt that pang shoot through him all over again, his hand growing painful around Sirius. This was ridiculous, Fang looked nothing like Padfoot...

"Should we be as worried about this as the rest of Hagrid's cooking?" Sirius said extra loudly just to get that look away from Harry's face even for a moment, he couldn't stand seeing his little pup in such misery every time something related back to him. It was killing him he'd been going through all of this in his past, and Sirius would do everything in his power to correct that now.

"Dandoliney," James tried hard for a smirk and a joke, and Remus helpfully played along.

"Prongs, you can't substitute a weed for a fruit and get the same affect," Remus corrected.

"Says who?" James rebuked, before concluding, "Hark, look who's talking, you once switched armadillo bile with your own," James really did smirk then.

"It wasn't my fault breakfast wasn't agreeing with me that morning," Remus said tragically.

"Subtle," Lily whispered, unlike the boys not pretending she couldn't see Harry's eyes swimming again. Sirius staying in those caves had almost been a good laugh at the time considering how well he knew the area, and suddenly the idea of if it had all been different just wasn't avoidable. If he'd just stayed up there instead of that ghastly house, if everything had been the way it should have been and he'd never had to be there at all, if...

"I imagine that actually would have caused another injury," Sirius stated too loudly again, but he'd keep talking this way until the others stopped looking at him that way.

"Please tell me he's joking!" Lily yipped with more volume than Sirius had and easily capturing all attention.

"If he can get one for Aragog he would do it for anyone," James said without remorse.

"Hagrid's certainly becoming more interesting with this whole dating set up thing, maybe he should have a crack at Moony," Sirius smirked while Remus scowled hatefully for that.

"Well you're just no help at all Harry," Remus grumbled instead of continuing to glare at Sirius.

Sirius opened, then closed his mouth, he didn't have a true comment for that. The past twelve years of his life would have been a ruin, the last year possibly worse than anything those

dementors could do. They ate away at your very soul just by being around, ruining anything happy you could hope to cling to...and then to be trapped in such a place where so many of all the

worst memories would come back! Death honestly would have sounded more bearable after so many long months... he'd see James again...

"But then there's that," Sirius sighed, couldn't speak aloud what had just pulsed through him, but he knew he wasn't doing a good job of hiding it at the panicky look from his brother. None of it

would have mattered, the reason he had done what he was doing was for Harry, and now his godson spoke nothing but the truth. Sirius would do it all again just to be there for Harry in whatever way he had, no matter how short of time it was.

Harry's throat burned as he heard all that. He meant to hold it in, he really did, but then Sirius began to speak, and Harry burst. "I don't want to hear it! I don't give a damn! You still, you-" he was just left covered in ice, the fire instantly forgotten as Sirius' studious expression didn't change.

He would have lived, but he wouldn't be the man Harry had grown to admire and love.

Sirius didn't speak when he saw it all, that Harry had understood no matter how much he'd hate him for it.

'After what he just did, I'm not surprised,' Lily honestly agreed. Those had been the words Harry had needed to hear, but there was never a time to say them.

Harry stayed nestled into Sirius' side, his heart feeling as heavy as it had back then no matter how much his mind told him to put it all away and be here with Sirius now while he had every chance he could. It wasn't quite working, the pain from his past would not fade no matter the replacement he had now.

"Harry," Sirius whispered for him alone, knowing his parents, that anyone else could have said the same, but Harry needed this to come from him. "You'll do what you think is right."

Harry closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose hard, but it didn't stop the traitorous tears coming again. It was all to real, he could have opened them again and been back on that lake edge, the ghost of Sirius' voice whispering in his ear an assurance he'd needed that no one had been left to give.

Remus wished it would have just ended there, that this stupid thing was done. No more should have been said or done, but he also couldn't just stop. Harry needed some closure, and while he

couldn't imagine how he was going to get it from that time, it felt impossible right now any of them were capable of doing so, only a reminder of everything he'd lost in his life while living

through it all again.

James had felt the bitter taint of regret, of not being there for those who needed him since the very beginning, and now even that moment felt like it was being torn away. Prongs had only been

delaying the moment, he hadn't really the chance to save anyone.

Sirius kept frowning as Harry tried to do the same now. He'd never wanted to be the cause of so much grief to his godson, to anyone.

Lily made a watery noise as she kept sniffling, like she was trying to giggle but the noise wouldn't come. She imagined herself the same way at least in that regards, she felt useless as a mother she didn't have to talk and pry things from him when these books were saying it all. She honestly wished Harry had the chance to speak this for himself, but he often chose not to and let that speak for him. She wanted to change that, but remained unsure how. She'd have to find a way to get him off his crutch soon.

"I know I always loath talking about him," James muttered as he ruffled up his hair in agitation. "He manages to turn all conversations about himself."

"A trait he learned from you," Remus muttered. The two couldn't help it, to take shots at their friend, at each other, it was one thing they could still do to each other this future hadn't yet taken away.

Harry tried to clear his throat, but it still seemed filled with too much snot to hold anything. It didn't mean he wanted to think about that anymore than the others, and thankfully Remus hissed

past the moment knowing it would come up again all too soon.

"Which she deserves absolutely none of," Remus said in pure disgust.

The laughter that echoed through the room was long over due, but somehow far more lackluster than any ever would have predicted. After all she did to Harry, to that school, to so many people, this rather tame leaving of the post just did not feel as whelming as it should have. Then again, unless someone, Sirius, had arrived to escort her to Azkaban nothing would have felt as good.

"Who did win the House Cup?" Lily insisted on keeping up the pleasant mood with any mundane topic she could.

"It was canceled, Dumbledore's reason was the Inquisitorial Squad made it too biased." Harry shrugged.

"Is that actually how he phrased it?" James said.

"No, he made some great speech announcement about Voldemort officially being back again, though Ron said he was just rubbing it in. What he actually said was something more along the

lines of school unity and looking past all our differences to become one again in the face of-" he cut himself off with a heavy roll of his eyes. "I'm not Hermione, I don't remember the exact words. That's just what I got out of it."

"Fair enough," Remus agreed.

Ron was still trying to convince him to do it tomorrow, but Harry still convinced him to go on while he did this.

"I doubt he'd make two speeches," James tried to encourage, he couldn't imagine missing the last feast.

"The first wasn't really a speech so much as just an announcement," Harry shrugged in defense.

Harry's breath caught in his throat, he suddenly looked like he was going to be sick, and none of them looked any better. Remus could already feel small little shivers starting, he couldn't look at any of them, barely saying in a whisper.

James looked back on that moment, of feeling exasperated Harry had worried so much about Sirius. He hadn't found his son silly at all for thinking it, but even still, no matter how dark his

mind had gone in offering what could happen to Sirius if he were to be caught again, he'd never wanted to imagine this all to come up again like this.

Remus was stammering by the end, words becoming a blur as too many memories washed over him, over them all. Detentions, something as common to their life as homework, and still they'd

refused to be apart, but he'd never want them back together again like this.

Sirius held Harry tight to him again, his frame going more pale by the second, his eyes wouldn't alight with that same hope in here and Sirius wasn't sure if it was age looking back or simply the boy in here couldn't even hold onto the same hope anymore with Sirius right beside him, his every being prepard for the blow he knew would come.

"Magic can't bring back everything Harry," Lily couldn't seem to stop herself explaining, that burning look on his face compelled her to just say something. "The paintings, the ghosts, their just

echos, can only do and say what they're magicked to do, not-" she stopped because it meant nothing to him. If this were true he would have long since had his parents back, there would never

be such sadness in the world again. He just buried his face back into Sirius' shoulder, struggling to breath so much he was convinced he never properly could again.

James could all but hear the echo of the glass, feel that more than Harry understood. Sirius' last gift to him, from both of them, was as gone from his life as they were, leaving no more explanation than anything else they continued to be without. Where had those mirrors been all those years, where as the the other now? He didn't believe he'd get those answer's anymore than an explanation for why this had happened to man who didn't deserve it.

They weren't even sure if Harry could hear them. He wouldn't look up now, keeping his face away as if ashamed of what came next.

Maybe it was because of the detachment from his memories, maybe it was because he had Sirius right now and he didn't want to see the look on his face for what came next, but as Harry felt

Sirius tense and try to murmur something, all he could feel his shameful wish for what his godfather could never have done.

Somehow it was even more painful Harry was forgetting another of Sirius' old things, and one they'd never even thought to bring up themselves. Did Sirius know Harry had the map? It had never really said, but Harry forgetting it now on top of everything couldn't have come at a worst time, they needed this to be done with. It was killing them all, more than having to listen to Sirius' fate, just to watch Harry cope through it all.

Remus' face was flushed, eyes only on the book even as his mind wondered how many times a ghost had to have this conversation, how often he'd come across a crying student and the pearly

white figures and had never thought about it more than that.

"Ghosts," James tried to mutter petulantly, but it instead came out in his own ghostly tone.

"Does the bluntness help the awkwardness?" Sirius asked him mock politely.

Harry didn't look up, though his shoulders eased just slightly from feeling the rumble of a chest beneath him. He already knew, even looking back, he couldn't have stood to see Sirius as that

pearly figure for longer than a breath. To never truly have him again but a shell, an echo, it would have felt colder to him than his old cupboard ever had.

James wouldn't let the moment pass without saying though, "you'd know that better than anyone," because he could never stand wasting a single moment to talk to Sirius.

Sirius just smiled at him the feeling just a bit forced as he could only imagine how much this was hurting James, how much every layer of this was just wrong for him. Sirius being dead and Harry feeling more for this than he ever had for his parents.

"Who were you talking about?" Remus couldn't help but look at him with great concern.

Harry forced himself to look up then, adjusting his glasses that were poking him in the face but still not really able to meet his eyes, just gestured wordlessly at Sirius, and Remus realized Harry had just refused to understand until it had been shoved in his face.

"Well you got that one right," Lily managed a chuckle as she gave Sirius a little smirk which he all to happily returned.

Harry was fixing his glasses stubbornly now, they might have gone a bit crooked from pressing his face so hard into them and that was why his vision was still a little blurry, surely he'd poked

himself in the eye and that's why they were still watering, this was ridiculous, he knew with everything in him right now Sirius wouldn't come back.

"Harry," Sirius couldn't help but grab his wrist, to make him stop that before he took his eye out as his face continued to grow out of that sorrow and slowly into anger. "Harry you know I'd come back for you in any way I could, the real way. I'd have done anything to get back out of there, but only, only if it were real, if I was coming back, not-"

Harry jerked his arm free but forced himself to take a deep breath no matter how much it hurt. His lungs still weren't in working order anymore than his glasses, though he couldn't seem to find a thing wrong with either when he kept checking.

Remus couldn't believe he was forcing himself to do this. He kept wondering, at the back of his mind, where he was, what was his useless self doing now instead of explaining to Harry Sirius

would never have even considered doing such a thing, why was Nick having to be the one to answer for this.

They'd all asked these questions at some point, everyone at Hogwarts had to varying degrees. Never before for any of them had it felt so personal, or the answer so vital, even when already

knowing what Nick would say.

'At what point does the mind and soul no longer intertwine,' the passage from an old book flitted through Lily's mind, when she herself had been looking into this very subject. Ghosts seemed to

be the embodiment of that answer, and the moment she'd realized that she'd snapped the thing shut and had avoided the spectacular figures the rest of the day, too young then to fully grasp what

she'd come across now, too young now to know that loss and still having to live through it.

"Miracles happen though," Harry muttered as he looked back to his godfather now, eyeing him with worry, his face flush and alive, gray eyes alert and bright for anything and everything. He did

not know what had led him to this moment, but he knew, he would never regret it.

It hurt, it was as fake as a dupe, but Harry smiled at Sirius, at all of them. He didn't know how, he could not imagine anything but the gray fog still trying to swallow him whole from his past, but he also knew with everything in him this was not true. Ron and Hermione were just down the stairs, and his friends would be there for him when he opened up to them. The ring glistened on his finger for a moment, a warmth unto itself promising a future he just couldn't envision right now.

"They what?" Remus muttered in surprised outrage for what had just come out of his mouth.

"Kids," Lily muttered with a petulant eye on James, who batted his eyes innocently even though they remained rather hard and distant. He felt bad for Luna, but this still wasn't enough to distract him from why was going on in Harry's life, Sirius, and so he waved Moony on so Lily couldn't start on what terrible youths again.

James looked oddly at Harry, struggling a moment to see where he was coming from, but it came to him. Harry's face was still sad now, but for just a moment he had taken his mind off his own

grief to see what was being done to others, something James had never bothered to do at any sense, at much of any age. Harry had briefly accused them of treating Luna as they once would have Snape, and while none of them had denied it, James suddenly liked to think he wouldn't have for this moment alone, the girl who made Harry see the outside world outside his own life.

"Yes well, so did they to Moony, but then again, maybe that's why we were the only fools who would tolerate him," Sirius smirked while Remus just smiled faintly and pretended to ignore him.

"She's so," Lily struggled for a word on this girl. She'd have been furious if someone had tired this on her, strung people up all along the castle if they'd even dared mess with her in this way. Serene was a good way to put it, very flowing. Luna simply accepted the way things were rather than trying to force people to behave how they should, and Lily found that honestly admirable, even while she'd be doing the same for Luna's things.

Sirius hummed thoughtfully, Harry noting he almost sounded like a pur rather than his usual dog like habits when he was content. Harry couldn't help the genuine smile that flit across his face

then, even for a moment.

"Lucky her," James couldn't help but whisper, thankful only Remus had heard and he was politely ignored.

Sirius couldn't help a well of panic for a moment. If Harry went back there, tried to get him out- he was being ridiculous, his mind instantly corrected. His godson was alive and safe right beside him. As desperate as he was, Remus had clearly gotten something through to him, that the veil was not the answer, there was no answer to making him come back. All that thing could ever do was taunt what Harry had lost.

Sirius gave one last comforting brush to Harry, who leaned into the touch just like he always did, he couldn't imagine doing anything else.

Remus gave a mock yawn. Considering Harry had bested all of their fathers and then some at the same time, this was beyond child's play to him. It was hard to imagine a worse pain to come than

what they'd already suffered, certainly these school yard bullies held nothing.

"Hopefully Ron lets go of his grudge on those Ravenclaws now," James said with his first real attempt at a chipper tone, even being back on that bloody train which always spelled disaster

considering who was waiting at the end very time, and the man who wasn't.

"Actually, I think Ginny broke up with him," Harry said in a light, rather forced conversational tone of voice. He wasn't sure where this idea came from, but he didn't feel much care for it either way. He really must have been desperately for anything to smile at, he certainly was doing so now at such a random bit of information.

"Twice on these train rides, this is becoming a tradition I almost look forward to," Remus smirked.

"And there's Ron, always making sure to note the important things," Sirius chuckled.

Lily brushed at her hair, her face distant with distress. The train ride to start all this, and they'd been worried about such things as Harry's crush and the Ministry. Now he was going through again a new person. Though having experienced death once before, this was still something new, even worse. His innocence kept being peeled away, though he'd never had much to begin with,

and she worried how much more he could handle.

Harry scoffed in disbelief even while he saw nothing of surprise on the others, and he shook his head sadly this was common for them.

"How long is that thing going to last?" Lily asked with the hint of worry now for what Hermione had done, had she really permanently scared that child for such a nasty trick.

"Never asked," Harry shrugged without much of a thought. "If I remember seeing her next year, I'll let you know."

They watched Harry curiously, but he seemed to be holding this with the same indifference as he had watching a little game of chess.

"Well that was fast," James rolled his eyes.

"Honestly, it took longer than I expected," Sirius snorted.

Harry was already struggling again, his composure as flimsy as paper in here. The feeling was growing rather than receding, of how to fit all three of these universes into his head. He knew it

was ridiculous, he could treat Sirius the same way now as he had before all this, but at the same time it didn't feel right, just slightly off, as if here were disrespecting his own godfathers memories by joshing around with him as the younger carefree man he'd never known. It just wasn't sitting right, and he knew he needed time to come to term with all this, and just looked pleadingly at Remus to keep going, to finish this and give him that chance. While he'd avoided it in here, the feeling was creeping back now, he did want some alone time before he had to hear more.

"What a smarmy little bloke, they deserve each other," James said without interest as he picked at his nails.

"I'm sure he did," Lily muttered with a small smile even as she kept watching Harry, who was at least pretending to keep listening with far more curiosity than was necessary, clearly still avoiding talking to them.

Sirius gave a little wolf whistle while the others started snickering. Harry got a lopsided smile in place, his thumb twitching a bit now out of reflex to brush at his ring unconscionably. It was all still a joke of course, Harry told himself, Ron was only thinking this way to keep his sister away

from others boys, he didn't really mean anything by it...

"Err, no!" Remus yelped in surprise while Sirius and James laughed harder.

"What bloke dates a dorm mates younger sister, that's a spell for disaster if I've ever heard one," James rolled his eyes in agreement.

"Can you imagine the idiot?" Sirius demanded.

"Wait, no, you skipped the best part!" Sirius yelped.

"Ginny told Ron to shut up, and he was in a temper the rest of the trip and muttering death threats to our dorm mate," Harry shrugged, even as at the time he'd agreed with Ron whenever demanded of, he'd mostly just been watching Ginny and that little smirk she'd kept hidden behind her paper for further irritating her brother in this way, it had been quite the show to watch and he'd wished the moment would never end.

"I really do wish you'd find out what happened, just once, let that be now," Sirius said tragically, and it wasn't a farce at a all. It had been there for one shining glorious moment before it was wrenched away, and then it had been left to hover, fester, in the back while Sirius had been on the run, incapable of fulfilling what they'd wanted from the very beginning. Now it was gone, permanently. Harry would never be able to step off that train to a real home.

Remus couldn't believe his eyes, just staring at that and sure he'd read that wrong until James began laughing beside him. It was wild, and jittery, but he clapped Remus on the shoulder and

shouted right in his ear, "there's Moony always coming through for us."

Remus didn't even have it in him to pull away, rub at his ear for the volume, he seemed stumped at what to do with himself. Finally, just a small little part of their wish had been granted, and yet it felt as bitterly tainted as spoiled milk. Because there was still someone missing, there always would be now, and Remus had never been there a single moment before this for Harry. It felt meaningless he'd done it now.

The others clearly didn't agree, Sirius shifting restlessly and prepared to wrestle the book from him if he didn't keep going, to find out what this was about! Was it finally happening, had Dumbledore changed his mind and admitted to another way? Was the Order going to take Harry out from those Dursleys noses at last?!

If James prodding Remus in the side hadn't got him started Remus likely wouldn't have moved ever again, but he shook off the terrible thoughts of this future and forced himself to focus on the now, Sirius still smiling widely and eagerly at him, and so he crossed his fingers to do one thing right and read out a moment they all so desperately needed.

"Treating themselves a bit," Lily muttered with a raised brow as Remus gave a low whistle of surprise.

"They deserve it," Sirius said at once, smiling widely at the prospect and honestly wanting to snap the book shut on Remus' fingers right there, just let this moment last forever.

Remus would have ignored him anyways, their fantasies would only be worse the longer they delayed moving on, so he kept going loudly to really see what all this was about.

Lupin had a faint smile in place as he said they'd decided to have a little chat with his aunt and uncle before letting them take him home.

Lily groaned obnoxiously loudly and let her head flop back against her seat. It was so exaggerated Harry couldn't help bursting out with laughter seeing his mother do something like that, and so Remus' expression went unnoticed by everyone except James. He'd realized the moment that look had flitted across his friends face what he could have thought they meant, and while the hope had been there he'd never let this blame fall on him either. "Moony, I don't care what made you do it, you are! Be happy about something for once in your life! Those bloody Muggles needed someone to remind them of who they have to look after until you show up again!" He managed to hiss at him while the other three were distracted.

Remus just looked at him, unable to believe after all this time, after all he'd done, Prongs was still standing up for him, even against himself. He'd finally lost everything in this future, but here and now he couldn't help but smile while he kept going, clinging to the idea he wouldn't be alone here.

"A gift in itself," Sirius nodded as if his wish really had been made. It wasn't on the same level as satisfying if Harry had just left with the people he should have, but honestly after so much misery he'd take what he could get.

"Be afraid," James said in a mock spooky voice.

"Hard to forget the man," Lily managed in between a righteous little giggle.

"Come on universe, I don't care who, I want someone to appear and see her there," James said at once, anything to make this just marginally worse for the people who still deserved more than they

were going to get, but this was the first time Moony had been in their company, and he wasn't going to be satisfied until they walked away with stains in their pants.

"Better than trying to look intimidating, he'd just fail at that more," Sirius sneered.

"Be very afraid," Remus agreed with a slight smile now for this show.

Five collective snorts of laughter for just how wrong that impression was, Harry's coming out a bit more runny than he'd meant to. His eyes were misting again. He didn't want to be reduced to tears again so soon, but he couldn't help it, he'd never in his life seen so many people to show him support like this...

Sirius gave a wild, unconstrained laugh that didn't stop for several minutes!

"That's too kind, I find encyclopedia far more accurate," Remus huffed.

"Credit for trying," Lily shrugged, she'd have been cheering them all on for someone finally doing something about this!

"Guess we'll just have to settle for these," James tried to roll his eyes like this was all fun.

"Oh he has no idea," Sirius muttered, his enthusiasm still prevailing over the little frown he carried and refused to acknowledge. What he would give to be there for Harry now, even more than ever before, as gratitude was washing over his little pup now like never before.

"The man has one trick, and now they've all seen it," James sneered.

Lily was giggling hysterically now, the triumphant feeling wouldn't fade that finally someone was standing up to that pompous blubber even if it wasn't the man they'd all been hoping for.

Remus gave his head a soft little annoyed shake, remembering Harry's second year and how he'd gone most of the summer without contact and it had been practically ignored, oh how things had

changed, almost for the better, right? He tried to keep James' words in mind at least Harry could never be so ignored again.

"So, Harry should ask them to come over for tea sooner rather than later," Sirius obviously concluded.

Harry gave one last broken sob as he brushed furiously at new tears still arriving. Sirius had never once been able to pick him up from the station, as any semblance for that promise of a home, a family, and now he never could; but that didn't mean he had to be alone.


End file.
